This work is incredible!

I hope you all watched that broadcast yesterday! I loved it so much! I really just hope that the members take what was said to heart and really get involved with the missionary work! We thought it was an announcement, not training, so everyone was like, “I bet they are going to let sisters stay for 2 years now instead of a year and half.” Haha stupid I know, but I really enjoyed that training and I feel like we are really focusing these days on inactives, which is amazing. There are so many people out there who need the Lord and don’t realize that His hand is already stretched out to them, waiting for them to come unto Him.

Earlier on Sunday, we watched a devotional by Elder Holland about being missionaries in such an exciting time. He said that people who were on the earth before the apostasy knew that the gospel wouldn’t be around much longer, but they continued to work for the gospel because they kept an eye towards the future for when it would be restored in our day. It was really awesome and put such a fire in my heart about my purpose here.

Sundays are amazing and are so uplifting. I have a cold, but I got a blessing last night and I feel way, way better. And guess what, yesterday I got time for a nap and it was the best thing ever. My comp had to give her talk in sacrament yesterday and she did a really great job! I was proud of her.

So this last week was great, but horrible at the same time. My companion and I hit a rough patch again and she just stopped talking to me about the lessons. When we taught the spirit wasn’t there and she was driving me insane. So I talked to Hermana Alvadero (my teacher she says hi btw) and she gave me great advice. Hermana Lisonbee and I had companionship inventory. I let her know how I felt and everything got way better after that.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned here in the CCM, which I should’ve learned forever ago, was if you don’t like someone, it’s your fault. The chances are that they aren’t going to change, but you have the agency to change how you feel about them. I am so glad I learned this lesson at the beginning of my mission because I know it will bless me greatly!

I decided missionary work is like open heart surgery. It’s really painful and you bleed all over the place, but the Lord is operating on your heart and is taking out all the bad things and replacing it with the good. He also strengthens the good parts of your heart as well. In the end it hurts, but it’s great! I know for sure my heart is definitely under construction and will be for the rest of my life.

Can you believe that tomorrow I will only have two weeks left in the CCM? Crazy right? And in 5 days I will have been out for one month! It’s absolutely insane!!! I just can’t get over the fact that in 2 weeks everyone will be going to Wal-mart and we will all be gone. Sorry my spelling in English is getting horrible and I’m thinking more and more in Spanish, but at the same time my Spanish stinks, so basically I can’t speak any language. Awesome.

I love my district so much and all the people here feel like family. This Wednesday (6-26) we get a new group of people, and on Tuesday (6-25) the oldest group, as well as all the espanos, leave. So tomorrow (6-25) we are going to the market and are taking a bus tour of the city. I am really excited!

Let me tell you a little bit about my district:

Sisters:

• Hermana Lisonbee, which you all know enough about.
• Hermana Richards reminds me of Lillian in some ways; they both have the same walk and they’re both so intelligent. I love her so much and she has been a great help to me. She loves to study, so she is rocking the language and is our female zone leader (I don’t know what that calling is called).
• Hermana McGill is Hermana Richards’ comp (companion) and has been doing so well with the language. She is awesome, funny, and always shares great thoughts.
• Hermana Garis is my workout buddy and she curses my name a lot because I make her work hard haha. Her parents were in Guatemala and happened to drive by the temple while we were walking past it. It was so weird.
• Hermana Clark is Hermana Garis’ companion. She is amazing and has awesome red hair. She kicks my butt with our arm workouts and she is the sweetest thing ever.

Elders:

• Elder Baadsgaard is our district leader (dl) and I bet dad knows his dad. He is from Spanish Fork and his dad is dad’s age. He is really nice and has been a great friend.
• Elder Jenks is our zone leader (zl). I have seen a great improvement in him since he has been zl and has stepped up his game a lot. He is from Cali and loves rugby.
• Elder Fails is 18, just barely graduated, and is super homesick, but things are getting better for him every day.
• Elder Galbraith is Elder Fails’ comp and has been a great support and a super nice kid.
• Elder Dalton sings all the time and puts peoples name into the songs and they are hilarious. He has an amazing voice. For example, we all sing Garis Navidad instead of Feliz Navidad.
• Elder Carlson is his comp and is our piano man; he is brilliant at playing the piano.
• Elder Tanner is the only elder not going to Quetzaltenango and is Dalton’s side kick.
• Elder Haller is the quiet one, but it’s absolutely hilarious when he opens his mouth. He gave me my blessing yesterday; it was short, sweet and simple, but exactly what I needed to hear.

We have the best teachers ever! Here’s more information about ones I’ve mentioned:

• Hermano Valdez is a powerhouse of awesomeness and has the funniest laugh ever. He laughs his head off at us all the time and is going to get engaged to another teacher here pretty soon.
• Hermana Alvadero (Candy) just got back from her mission in Las Vegas. We get along great and I learn so much from her. I love her guts—she is absolutely adorable.
• Hermano Malnado (Gary) just got back like 3 weeks ago from his mission. He is being trained by Alvadero and is absolutely hilarious. He likes to speak to us in a thick accent and quotes Nacho Libre a lot. His advice rocks also.

They are so amazing; I am pretty sure it’s the best district in the CCM. We all cry together and laugh together; it’s incredible and I am going to miss them. Hermana Garis and Clark aren’t coming to Quetzaltenango, which I am super bummed about, but they will all be close to Utah though!

I am pretty sure I am getting fat; can’t really tell though. The food is so ridiculously good. And Jordan, we totally had beef wellington the other day! It was awesome and I wish you were there for it.*

The elderly couples here are so sweet and lovely. One man from the couples was actually the old mission president of Quetzaltenango. He is way cool and told us to not worry about the language. He said some of the missionaries that couldn’t speak at all had the highest baptisms because they had the spirit with them.

I love you guys and love to hear from you! You are the best and thanks for your prayers. Please write me through dearelder.com, email, snail mail, or something! I would love to hear from you during the week. When they pass out the letters at night I feel like the kid that Santa didn’t visit haha.

Love,

Hermana Lindsie

*Lindsie and Jordan used to watch Gordon Ramsey (the chef) TV shows together. I remember when they were watching it, they talked about how they haven’t even heard of that dish in a restaurant/what is that dish is like exactly, etc.

NEW Foto de Grupo

Sisters at the Guatemala MTC 6-12-13

Elders at the Guatemala MTC 6-12-13

Sacrament meeting is like the Hunger Games

Hola mi familia!

It has been a great week here at the CCM! We went to a chapel on Tuesday (6-11) and played on the grass. We played missionary tag and ninja destruction, then just sat and talked under a shady tree. It was so nice! After that we went to Wal-Mart! The shelves there are so short, but they have pretty much everything an American Wal-Mart has. My comp had a ton of stuff to buy; it was kind of ridiculous, but it’s ok. Later we went to the Guatemalan mall. The mall was so nice and huge that I felt like I was in America—well almost. We had lunch there and I ate at Wendy’s, which was a blessed moment.

After shopping, we went to the temple had devotional. It was a pre-recorded one by Elder Bednar, but it was amazing! He told us not to worry about whether or not we know if an impression we have is from the spirit or if it’s just a good thought, either way it doesn’t matter. Just act on it and you’ll receive immense blessings. It was amazing!

Sunday (6-16) was a great day! The spirit was so strong, but sacrament meeting is terrifying because they randomly call on you to speak! So I feel like it’s the hunger games, and I told my comp that if my name gets called, she has to yell, “I volunteer!” I think I’m funny, esta bien (it’s ok). We watch like a bajilllion church movies on Sundays, but it so good. We watched a devotional by Elder Scott about the power of prayer. He told us to just talk to your Heavenly Father because He is there listening. His talk definitely improved my life greatly!

Juan Carlos, my teacher acting as an investigator, is a tough cookie, but we invited him to go to church and he said that he would. Somehow he actually ended up going, which we were happy about. Sometimes one lesson with him will go really good, and then the next one doesn’t go as well. It’s defeating, but it always teaches me something. Even though Juan Carlos is my teacher, when we pray to know what he needs, the lord lets us know what they are. It’s crazy and weird, but I like it a lot.

Hermana Alverado (aka Candy) and our other night teacher Hermano Malnado (aka Gary) are acting as investigators too. We taught Gary about the restoration and had Candy help us with the lesson. It went really well. The spirit was so strong, but we took up a lot of time. Jordan was so right: when you are in the CCM, you want sugar at night, but thankfully we have a snack time. Snack time is the best in the world! We are so spoiled here in the CCM.

Yesterday (Tuesday 6-18) was P-day and our district decided to make a flag. They bought materials from a guy that sells stuff through the fence and I helped them sew the flag. Then we went to the temple and I love the Guatemala temple so much! It’s so cute and little and beautiful! When you walk out of the celestial room, the baptism font is right there. It’s weird, but they have curtains to cover the windows if people are doing baptisms. (More Quetzaltenango temple pics)

Later that night we had a devotional with one off the area's Seventy Elder Duncan. He talked about teaching inactives and told a bunch of different stories. He said no matter what, the Lord will put something in less actives’ lives to bring them back to the church—it’s just a matter of when. The devotional speakers also talked to us about how having people stay in the church is more important than baptism numbers, which I totally agree with. It was a good devotional I really liked it.

Afterwards our district discussed what we liked about the devotional. It turned into a testimony meeting and all of us bawled our eyes out. I have the best district in the world. We sang a bunch of songs together as well and so many people in my district have beautiful voices. Being on a mission is for sure changing me because now I kind of enjoy singing. Not only that, but now I sing louder, so some people can actually hear me! Miracles do happen people.

Things are getting better with my companion every day. I still have my struggles, but now I can say that I love her, which is good. One of the girls that have just entered the CCM was in one of my institute classes. She shares a room with me and has been struggling with a lot of the same things that I have, so I have been able to help her out. Her companion is an odd duck and I’m learning to love her as well. She has a harmonica and plays it a lot, but doesn’t play it well and sometimes I just want to chuck it out the window, but esta bien.

I’ve noticed that each of the new groups have their own little personalities. Like the group I came down with is incredible; we all get along so well and we’re all pretty low maintenance. The new group has a lot of fashion divas in it though it’s so funny. They are fun though. One of the girls I became friends with in the new group is a clone of one of the managers at Crest Financial, Kristen…I can’t remember her last name and its driving me nuts! Anyways both Kristen and this girl talk the same, have the same laugh, and they even look like they could be twins. It’s sooo weird.

I have the best teachers in the whole wide world! I learn so much from them and they are hilarious! Hermano Valdez is getting engaged to another teacher here at the CCM in a couple of weeks.

I love getting emails from you. It sounds like Ali is working hard! Keep up the good work Alison! And its sounds like the Scera thing was so fun! I love summer time in Utah. I’m glad little Simon is finally taken care of (neutered) and that Mi-mi is doing well. I miss my babies! Sounds like the same old same old back at home, but I love you guys so much. You are in my thoughts and prayers constantly. Pray for me that I may have the peace that I need in some areas. I don’t know what I would do without you.

By the way, you can use dearelder.com so that I can hear from you throughout the week. I love you so much!

Hermana Lindsie

I hiked through a river to email you all

Hola familia,

It has been pouring rain here the last couple of days, and it started pouring like 10 minutes before it was time to walk up to the computer lab. The lab isn’t in the CCM, it’s across from the temple, so I’m soaked, but I am so happy to be writing you guys. My teacher is from Guatemala and he was laughing his face off at us. He thought us running through the rain was the funniest thing he ever did see.

So I told you guys about Candy our investigator. It turns out she was a fake investigator and is actually our night teacher. It was pretty earth shattering considering we all thought she was going to get baptized at the end of this month. Turns out she isn’t after all. It’s ok though because I love her as my teacher and she rocks. We are still teaching Candy though and now we have to pretend it’s real too, which is kind of difficult.

Our day teacher, Hermano Valdez, is acting as an investigator as well and he is tough. He acts all bored and he asks us a ton of questions that we don’t know how to respond to in Spanish yet. He also gets up in the middle of a lesson and gets coffee, so figuring him out will be a fun one. He is definitely a learning experience.

Things are getting better with my companion every day and I love her more and more. I decided we need to have companionship inventory, and that helped us out a lot because I also learned what I needed to do better. I got a blessing from the elders in my district because my stomach was so upset and now I feel awesome. Go priesthood power!

I love my district, but sometimes we get a little too sidetracked, which is kind of frustrating when you want to study. The elders down here really like singing Christmas songs, but thankfully they’re in Spanish so it doesn’t get stuck in my head. A lot of sisters and elders are leaving this week and we get a whole new batch on Wednesday, so that’s why I’m emailing you today. So if you want me to email you back, email me by Sunday night because I never know what my schedule will be like.

P-days are my favorite days and I call them b-days for blessed-day. We just chill and play sports and all that other good stuff. We went to the temple on P-day and the temple here is so pretty, but sooo tiny. We had a session in English that was very good. There was a couple in our session group and the guy had crazy claw hands! It was freaky and we all couldn't help but stare, but the spirit was so strong there nonetheless. And it was so great knowing all about the endowment before leaving, so thanks mom!

After we left the temple, we were outside waiting for everyone when all of a sudden a bunch of little kids and their moms came out of nowhere. The moms told the little kids to go shake our hands. It was the sweetest, most special moment here. I got down to their level and asked them all their names and it was the cutest thing on this planet. All the sisters including myself were about to cry because it was so cute!

Later that night was our last lesson with Candy before we knew that it was Candy. Hermana Lisonbee and I weren’t all that prepared for it, so we just bore our testimony in English and it was so amazing. That day made me so incredibly happy; it’s crazy how missionary work can make you incredibly happy one moment, then totally frustrated and discouraged the next moment. It’s an emotional roller coaster.

We are going to Wal-Mart tomorrow and I’m getting supplies to help me study better like flash cards, so I’m excited about that. Pray for me to have patience. I thought I was patient before my mission, but apparently Heavenly Father doesn’t agree haha. I have discovered that I’m not patient with myself and it’s getting in the way of me studying, so I definitely neeed to work on that. Pray for me that Spanish will come more easily and that I can teach with the spirit and that the words that are needed will come. It would be much appreciated. I need all the help I can get.

All of my roommates are leaving tomorrow, which I am super bummed about because I love my roommates so much! They are so fun. There are two Spanish sister missionaries that I always talk to. They teach me Spanish and I teach them English. It’s so fun and we are always laughing at my Spanish. I’m going to miss them so much, but I’m excited for the new people because that means I’m no longer the newbie and that I am the "wise one". Some weird reason the people that have been here longer seem so much older than me when they aren’t.

Sunday was a great day. I like Sundays because they are way more chill than every other day here. For Sunday school we have to prepare a 10 minute lesson with our companion and then you are randomly called on. Our theme was questions of the soul in Preach My Gospel. Hermana Lisonbee and I felt like we needed to focus on one question and apply it to us instead of an investigator.

Turns out after we prepared a lesson we got randomly called on and had to give it. It went really well. The question we studied and talked about was, “how do we know that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us?” I shared an experience I had when I found out mom had cancer and the spirit was so strong and it made a few people cry. This missionary stuff would be much much much much easier if I could speak English. I can’t wait until I’m fluent in Spanish. Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing how to say the words you know you need to say.

Anyway, we had a meeting with Hermana Nicholysen, the mission president’s wife, and it was about getting along with your companion. The spirit was so strong and helped me a lot. Sorry my letter is all over the place I’m just writing stuff that is coming to my mind. We had exchanges on Sunday for a short period of time, and me and Hermana Lisonbee got Spanish companions and mine was so cute. I was talking to her about her life and where she was from. Before the Quetzaltenango temple, she had to travel 6 hours to get to the Guatemala City temple, which made me realize how blessed and lucky we are! We live 15 minutes away from Timpanogos temple and like 20 minutes away from Provo, yet it’s so hard to get to the temple. When I get back I have to go to the temple every week. Now that the Quetzaltenango temple is there, it takes her 3 hours to get there instead, which is a shorter time, but that still stinks. She also told me that hopefully after her mission she and her parents will get sealed in the temple. They are LDS, they just haven’t been sealed yet, which also makes me so happy we are sealed together. I can’t even imagine what it would be like if we weren’t.

Relief Society (RS) was sooooo boring. There is a doctor here now and his wife is super uptight and bossy. She talked to us about the priesthood in RS and I wanted to die I was so bored. I have also realized that I really miss my Sunday naps and power naps. Everyone back at home, don’t ever take your naps for granted because they are tender mercies haha. We also have a guy teacher at night as well as our teacher Candy. The guy teacher just got off his mission like 14 days ago. He is hilarious and we all want him and Candy to date.

Mom I’m glad you are taking care of Mi-mi baby (our dog Mira). She cracks me up and I miss her, but I am so glad I am here and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It feels so right to be here on a mission and I am so grateful for it.

Next week I will try and be more organized and make of list of what I want to say. I love you guys so much! Thanks for your prayers and support! Love you much!

Hermana Lindsie

Foto de Grupo

Sisters at the Guatemala MTC 5-29-13

Elders at the Guatemala MTC 5-29-13

These are group photos of everyone here at the CCM. I’m not next to my comp; we did it by height. There is also a picture of all the elders. It’s a very small group down here, but I love knowing everyone. It’s hard to think that we will all be going to different missions. It makes me sad, but everyone in my district besides 3 people is going to Xela*, which makes me happy. Anyways enjoy!

Love,

Hermana Lindsie

P.S. By the way, it’s the weirdest thing ever to think I have a first name.**

*  Xela is another name for the city of Quetzaltenango; it’s pronounced as Shayla)

**Lindsie usually signs her letters with Hermana + her last name instead of her first, but I change it here to protect her privacy)

First week at the CCM (MTC)

Hey Family!

It's so good to hear from all of you, but your emails made me cry. Knowing that I'd be able to see your emails today helped me get through the week. I have to type fast, and because I'm learning Spanish, my English is getting horrible, so please forgive all the errors. My P-day is on Wednesday, at least this week it is, but we get to write on Tuesday. The Guatemalans are crazy and never stick with the schedule.

So the reason why they stopped me at the airport was because they thought I had a large liquid in my bag, but I think it was just my face wipes. The pills were ok. There were soooooo many missionaries when I got to the gate and more came at L.A.X. There were probably at least 30 missionaries. I met a lot of new people that way.

At L.A.X., a Guatemalan man sat next to me and I started talking to him in my broken Spanish. He and his family thought I was crazy/hilarious, but as I was talking to him, it was like I could see him and all his family dressed in white at the temple one day. I asked Hermana McGill if I could have her Spanish Book of Mormon and she said yes. So I gave it to him and then she joined in on the conversation. He sat in front of me, and at the end of the airplane ride, he had the Book of Mormon in his hand. I think he was reading it on the flight too, but I was so exhausted from packing all night that I passed out on the plane.

So when we arrived in Guatemala, there were 2 buses: one for all the suitcases and one for us. We arrived at the CCM (MTC in Spanish) and the people that have been here for a while helped us out. I went to my room, got some breakfast, then slept for about 2 hours. It's like prison here — they take your cameras and iPods until you leave because I guess there has been a lot of theft here. 

The first day was the longest day of my life. It didn't help that it also ended up being horrible. My companion is Hermana Lisonbee and I am struggling with her. I am learning to love her everyday more and more, but it is really difficult. It is definitely a one way companionship and getting her to contribute is like pulling teeth.

I love you Ali, and sorry if this sounds bad, but Hermana Lisonbee is a lot like you, except times that awkwardness by like 5! She walks way more slowly than you and takes forever to do anything. So Heavenly Father definitely gave her to me in order to teach me patience. I'm working on getting along with her everyday by trying to forget myself and get to work and serve her, so hopefully by the end of 6 weeks things will be better. If anyone has advice on how to deal with a difficult companion, it would definitely be appreciated.

I love my district so much they are really fun. We get to work together with an investigator named Candy who works at the cafeteria. (By the way, the food here is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goood!!! It's also really rich and they give you big portions.) Anyways, at first we didn't think she was real investigator, but then we found out she really is an investigator. We are supposed to be teaching Candy in Spanish, but it always ends up in English. Thankfully she grew up in Las Vegas and is very fluent in English. She loves what we are teaching her and thinks it makes a lot of sense. In fact, due to all of our efforts, she is being baptized this month on the 29th!

One night when we were deciding on what to teach Candy the next day, my companion suggested we teach her about prayer. But as we studied the topic, I wasn't feeling it and let my companion know. Others thought we should talk about something else as well, so I picked another subject and we decided to teach her about the creation, the fall, and agency. It was good that we did because it led to her asking, "do children go to limbo when they die because of Adam and Eve?" Being able to tell her that children actually go straight to heaven was the greatest thing ever. She has two little twin boys and I let her know how much Jesus loves them. The only problem with teaching her was that I wasn't on the same page as my companion. I will have to keep working on building our unity. Sorry I'm venting so much, it just feels good to get my venting out.

There are 8 girls total in my room: 4 Latinas and 4 white girls, including me. Talking to the Latinas is so fun because they are so patient and we all laugh at my Spanish together it's great. The 2 white girls are helpful, give me lots of advice, and are really fun to talk to. The district leader is Elder Baadsgaard and he is from Benjamin near Spanish Fork. His father's your age as well dad and went to Spanish Fork High, so do you know a Baadsgaard dad?

By the way Spanish keyboards are weird!!!! And I haven't been taking my Singular as much, but my allergies aren't as bad down here. Probably because the humidity is helping my skin a lot.

Being at the CCM is an emotional roller coaster. One minute you are happy, the next minute you are frustrated or feel all emotions possible all at the same time. The Lord's work is definitely hard work, but it is so worth it. I am so blessed to be able to bring the happiness of the gospel to the people of Guatemala. Pray for me to have patience and love, and also that my stomach will feel better because Sunday night I spent the whole night pooping. I wanted to die and now it has come back today too. I am pretty sure my body is trying to poop out my internal organs.

Sorry, my thoughts are super scattered. I love my teachers here, especially Hermano Valdez. He is a sweetheart and teaches with the spirit and is so patient with us and is hilarious. I'm struggling with the language and wish Ali was here to bounce Spanish off with me, but I'm getting better everyday. I pretty much memorized the first vision in Spanish and also learned how to say basic prayers.

Sunday here was great and it was fast Sunday this week. I was glad because my fast has been helping me do better. We watched a ton of church movies, and watching the first vision kind of made me homesick a little bit. We also watched part of Errand of Angels, which gave me ideas to help me get along better with Hermana Lisonbee. 

For Sunday school, we all have to prepare a lesson, and you randomly get called on to teach. It's the same way for sacrament usually, but today was fast and testimony meeting. The testimony meeting was cool, and even though I didn't understand a lot of what people were saying, the spirit was still so strong. The Latinos are hilarious and don't understand that they should let people pass the tray through the row. Latinos probably walk the tray through the row because Latino men are tiny and can walk through the row, but the gringo men are so big that they can't haha. After the church meeting was over, I really missed being able to take a nap. 

I get an hour to write you each week, so I am going to end this soon so that I can reply to people individually. Can you send me the emails from Nate and Emily if there are any to this email so I can write them sometime? Also I can't look at your blog since its not an approved site, but that is awesome. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys tons! You are in my thoughts often.

Lots of love,

Hermana Lindsie

P.S. Give Mira and Simon a hug from me. I miss my babies.

- - -

From Lindsie to Alison: 

You were right Alison, I suck at Spanish, but I am getting there slowly but surely. Writing in English is getting harder and harder and Spanish is getting easier and easier. Umm humidity sucks, especially to work out in. Imagine being in the garage in mid-July with 100% humidity and that is what it feels like to be working out here in Guatemala.

I only have 5 more minutes left, so I will use it up on you. I just want to let you know how much I love you and thank you for your support. Things here are pretty good. I am happy most of the time, but it is an emotional roller coaster. I hope the fam is doing ok. Thinking about you guys makes me cry, but I am so happy to be here.