September 26, 2011
I'm feeling much better this week and I'm so grateful! On monday we got to go exploring and went to this little city called Aguacatan where there's this sacred river that springs up out of the ground which was really cool! I didn't know rivers did that! It just pops right up out of the ground and the story goes that it's sacred because years ago all these people were fighting over it so it dried up. As soon as the people resolved their problems and made peace the water came back! So they named it after a Saint and made it sacred! Pretty legit!
As far as Angelina's baptism goes we have to push it back another week or two because her documents are in a different city and so the wedding stuff is taking a while. But her husband is all good with everything which is awesome! President Bautista promised we'd get an average of 2 a month or more so as long as we get 3 in October we'll still be good! It is a lot harder getting someone ready for baptism than I realized, but I know there are people here who are prepared and we're finding them! We have several prospects for this month so I'm confident we'll meet all our goals! Tomorrow we have interviews with President Bautista which will be good and I'm so excited for conference this weekend! I love reading the old conference talks and I'm ready for new counsel!
Fun story this week! We've been teaching this family, Marisela and David. We invited their next door neighbor Elsa who's a member to help us teach. She's an awesome return missionary and really nice. Well David and Elsa both tend to talk a lot and it ended up being an hour and a half long strange discussion between David and Elsa that we could hardly get two words in. It ended up with Elsa explaining that she got her testimony when she saw the silhoutte of God in her Doctrine and Covenants and yeah it was out of control. I love the members here haha but its dangerous inviting them to teach investigators sometimes...
I got my package on Tuesday which was record time according to my companion... I loved it! It was like Christmas!!! Thanks for all the letters and everything, it really made my week! Anyhow, sorry I'm out of time we're going to go make pupusas at the stake center. I hope everyone is good and I can't wait to hear updates on how things are going. I love you all!
Kailey
10.31.2011
September 19, 2011
This week has been really good in some ways and really crappy in others haha. I think Jeremy (the affectionate name I gave the parasite I acquired in Mozambique) invited his Guatemalan friends over and they´ve been having parties in my insides! From Wednesday to yesterday I've been super ill-- nauseated, stomach aches, puking and all that good stuff, so we cancelled all our meals with members for this week and hopefully that will help me get back to normal! I didn't want to stay inside so we still went out and worked everyday except for yesterday because Hermana Lucha wouldn't let me. I'm so glad we went out the days we did though! We found a lot of new people to teach and I think we're going to have some baptisms soon!
We found two families, the Bautistas, who are inactive members. They are 2 sisters who got baptized 18 years ago when they were kids and then went inactive eventually for different reasons. Now they have their own kids who are 8, 9, 11, and a couple younger ones and they want to hear the lessons again! We're having FHE with them tonight! Well at least with one of them. One sister was visiting and lives in the Rehu mission but Hermanana Lucha's brother is in that mission so we're sending the missionaries to her there!
We found another lady this week named Marisela who's only 20 and has a 5 month old little baby boy named Cristofer who has Down Syndrome and is the cutest baby ever. We taught her and her husband David and they are great! I really think they both might get baptized in the next month.
Yesterday we ran around in the morning trying to get our investigators who were supposed to come to church with us but they were either not home, not ready or didn't answer the phone or whatever so we ended up not having any investigators come to church. I was pretty bummed because that pretty much ruled out all our possibilities for a baptism this month and we had a goal to have one more. I was praying during Sacrament meeting that somehow we would still be able to meet our goals. We've been working really hard to meet all the new goals that President Bautista set with us and he promised us we would be able to have at least 2 baptisms a month if we did everything he asked us to. (this is the lowest baptizing mission in Central America so apparently 2 per month is a high standard) Anyhow during sunday school I looked out the window and Angelina was standing there!! After church she said her husband had told her that morning that he wants to get married in our church! Which means if we get everything together for their wedding this week then she can get baptized before the end of this month! It was a miracle. It's still not set in stone and we have a lot to do this week. We have to figure out when her husband will be in town so we can schedule the wedding and all but I know that it's all going to work out according to our faith :) Alma 37:17 says the Lord will fulfill all his promises so long as we have the faith and obedience to be worthy of it!
We also found out this week that Merlin and Jose, a couple we were teaching for a while, are planning their wedding! I'm so happy about all the missionary stuff going on! I studied the story of the strippling warriors this week and I remember so well when we learned about obeying with exactness as kids. It's so much more important to me now and I'm so grateful that you taught us well. I do not doubt that my mother knew it. I hope everyone is happy and doing well! I love you!!!
Tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the email! I loved hearing from them!
This week has been really good in some ways and really crappy in others haha. I think Jeremy (the affectionate name I gave the parasite I acquired in Mozambique) invited his Guatemalan friends over and they´ve been having parties in my insides! From Wednesday to yesterday I've been super ill-- nauseated, stomach aches, puking and all that good stuff, so we cancelled all our meals with members for this week and hopefully that will help me get back to normal! I didn't want to stay inside so we still went out and worked everyday except for yesterday because Hermana Lucha wouldn't let me. I'm so glad we went out the days we did though! We found a lot of new people to teach and I think we're going to have some baptisms soon!
We found two families, the Bautistas, who are inactive members. They are 2 sisters who got baptized 18 years ago when they were kids and then went inactive eventually for different reasons. Now they have their own kids who are 8, 9, 11, and a couple younger ones and they want to hear the lessons again! We're having FHE with them tonight! Well at least with one of them. One sister was visiting and lives in the Rehu mission but Hermanana Lucha's brother is in that mission so we're sending the missionaries to her there!
We found another lady this week named Marisela who's only 20 and has a 5 month old little baby boy named Cristofer who has Down Syndrome and is the cutest baby ever. We taught her and her husband David and they are great! I really think they both might get baptized in the next month.
Yesterday we ran around in the morning trying to get our investigators who were supposed to come to church with us but they were either not home, not ready or didn't answer the phone or whatever so we ended up not having any investigators come to church. I was pretty bummed because that pretty much ruled out all our possibilities for a baptism this month and we had a goal to have one more. I was praying during Sacrament meeting that somehow we would still be able to meet our goals. We've been working really hard to meet all the new goals that President Bautista set with us and he promised us we would be able to have at least 2 baptisms a month if we did everything he asked us to. (this is the lowest baptizing mission in Central America so apparently 2 per month is a high standard) Anyhow during sunday school I looked out the window and Angelina was standing there!! After church she said her husband had told her that morning that he wants to get married in our church! Which means if we get everything together for their wedding this week then she can get baptized before the end of this month! It was a miracle. It's still not set in stone and we have a lot to do this week. We have to figure out when her husband will be in town so we can schedule the wedding and all but I know that it's all going to work out according to our faith :) Alma 37:17 says the Lord will fulfill all his promises so long as we have the faith and obedience to be worthy of it!
We also found out this week that Merlin and Jose, a couple we were teaching for a while, are planning their wedding! I'm so happy about all the missionary stuff going on! I studied the story of the strippling warriors this week and I remember so well when we learned about obeying with exactness as kids. It's so much more important to me now and I'm so grateful that you taught us well. I do not doubt that my mother knew it. I hope everyone is happy and doing well! I love you!!!
Love, kailey
9.26.2011
Presidential Elections
My companion was sick again for a few days this week (she says I'm her curse) and yesterday was Presidential Elections so we had to stay inside for 3 days this week. The other days that we did get to go out were really, really good!
On Tuesday we were out in the pouring rain trying to find a reference. There's no such thing as street addresses here, people just give general directions and house descriptions. So we were in this major rain storm trying to find the right green house and almost got struck by lightning! Sparks flew out of all the power lines in front of us and everything. The reference we had was for an old man named Sergio who is the only member in his family. He just had surgery and is very ill with Parkinsons disease. He isn't supposed to live much longer so we wanted to visit him. A lady was standing in her doorway so we asked her if she knew where Sergio lived and she said he was her dad. She invited us in to get out of the rain for a minute, but made sure to let us know she was Catholic on our way in. We sat down for a minute and she started telling us about her dad and how her family had been having a really rough time seeing their dad suffer in so much pain. We asked if we could share a scripture that might give her some comfort and she said yes. Hermana Lucha and I both felt impressed to share Doctrine and Covenants section 122 with her when Joseph Smith was in prison. We don't usually introduce the Doctrine and Covenants until we are teaching about the commandments in the 4th or 5th lesson, but Hermana Lucha and I both felt like this was what we were supposed to share. We explained in about 15 seconds who Joseph Smith was and that this was a revelation he received when he was in prison. We just went with the spirit. She started crying and said she felt a great peace come into her heart. It was a really cool experience. We left a Book of Mormon with her which she said she was going to read to her dad and we have an appointment to go back over tomorrow.
On Friday we had Zone Conference which was really good! I love President Bautista! He is such a great man and I know he receives revelation for this mission. We set some new goals and he gave us some new teaching ideas that we are putting into practice. We can already see a difference in the work.
After zone conference we stopped by to meet with Sergio and his wife let us in. She is a strict Catholic and had never let the missionaries in the house before even though her husband is a member. But this time for some reason she let us in and let us teach a lesson. She felt the spirit and said she would think about everything we taught her. A huge step from not letting the missionaries in her house before! I think she is more open and humble because her husband is in such bad shape. He really is on the edge of death. He can't move or talk and just shakes, cries and moans from the Parkinsons. She's not in very good shape either.
Anyhow its been a really good week! At least the days we got to go out. :) The other days I just cooked food and ate a lot. Try arroz con leche! Make rice with cinnamon and a little sugar till its mushy, then add a bunch of milk and make a hot drink out of it!! It's delicious. I love you all!
On Tuesday we were out in the pouring rain trying to find a reference. There's no such thing as street addresses here, people just give general directions and house descriptions. So we were in this major rain storm trying to find the right green house and almost got struck by lightning! Sparks flew out of all the power lines in front of us and everything. The reference we had was for an old man named Sergio who is the only member in his family. He just had surgery and is very ill with Parkinsons disease. He isn't supposed to live much longer so we wanted to visit him. A lady was standing in her doorway so we asked her if she knew where Sergio lived and she said he was her dad. She invited us in to get out of the rain for a minute, but made sure to let us know she was Catholic on our way in. We sat down for a minute and she started telling us about her dad and how her family had been having a really rough time seeing their dad suffer in so much pain. We asked if we could share a scripture that might give her some comfort and she said yes. Hermana Lucha and I both felt impressed to share Doctrine and Covenants section 122 with her when Joseph Smith was in prison. We don't usually introduce the Doctrine and Covenants until we are teaching about the commandments in the 4th or 5th lesson, but Hermana Lucha and I both felt like this was what we were supposed to share. We explained in about 15 seconds who Joseph Smith was and that this was a revelation he received when he was in prison. We just went with the spirit. She started crying and said she felt a great peace come into her heart. It was a really cool experience. We left a Book of Mormon with her which she said she was going to read to her dad and we have an appointment to go back over tomorrow.
On Friday we had Zone Conference which was really good! I love President Bautista! He is such a great man and I know he receives revelation for this mission. We set some new goals and he gave us some new teaching ideas that we are putting into practice. We can already see a difference in the work.
After zone conference we stopped by to meet with Sergio and his wife let us in. She is a strict Catholic and had never let the missionaries in the house before even though her husband is a member. But this time for some reason she let us in and let us teach a lesson. She felt the spirit and said she would think about everything we taught her. A huge step from not letting the missionaries in her house before! I think she is more open and humble because her husband is in such bad shape. He really is on the edge of death. He can't move or talk and just shakes, cries and moans from the Parkinsons. She's not in very good shape either.
Anyhow its been a really good week! At least the days we got to go out. :) The other days I just cooked food and ate a lot. Try arroz con leche! Make rice with cinnamon and a little sugar till its mushy, then add a bunch of milk and make a hot drink out of it!! It's delicious. I love you all!
kailey
9.07.2011
First Baptism!
So its been a crazy week again! Planning a wedding and a baptism and trying to find people to teach and all that crazy stuff! We spent a bunch of time running around to Pacas (mini DI's all over here) looking for ties for Alexis and a white shirt that would fit him, a present for Dori, stuff to make a cake, stuff to decorate the chapel and to do Dori's hair. It was nuts!
It's been raining a ton and the power has gone out like 5 times this week. We got some candles for our house and it's super fun! It's kinda sketchy going out when there's no light though so we usually chill at the house in the evenings if the power is gone.
We found out one of our investigators, Angelina ( the one with dirt floors and chickens and fleas), completely ran out of food this week so we went out and bought her some on Wednesday. That was an adventure! Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie here. Especially when we go to the city center where the markets are and everything. The roads are super narrow and lined with shops and "tiendas". Cars are trying to get through the middle of everything and sometimes, massive buses and trucks. It's ridiculous! There's always different loud music playing and so many bright colors. It's like one of those fun hippy travel scenes if you know what I'm talking about. Well this time, as we were heading back with all the food and squeezing in between the tiendas and the cars, this one car passed super close and a guy had his head sticking out the window and- yeah- he puked all over me and Hermana Lucha! Mmmm chunky shoes! It almost started a chain reaction!
It's been raining a ton and the power has gone out like 5 times this week. We got some candles for our house and it's super fun! It's kinda sketchy going out when there's no light though so we usually chill at the house in the evenings if the power is gone.
We found out one of our investigators, Angelina ( the one with dirt floors and chickens and fleas), completely ran out of food this week so we went out and bought her some on Wednesday. That was an adventure! Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie here. Especially when we go to the city center where the markets are and everything. The roads are super narrow and lined with shops and "tiendas". Cars are trying to get through the middle of everything and sometimes, massive buses and trucks. It's ridiculous! There's always different loud music playing and so many bright colors. It's like one of those fun hippy travel scenes if you know what I'm talking about. Well this time, as we were heading back with all the food and squeezing in between the tiendas and the cars, this one car passed super close and a guy had his head sticking out the window and- yeah- he puked all over me and Hermana Lucha! Mmmm chunky shoes! It almost started a chain reaction!
So I'll skip over some of the other weeks details and just tell you the fun stuff. We helped some ladies in our ward wash these giant leaves that they use to make tamales. It was a lot of fun! One day we bought "Nacho Libre" style corn. It's called "Jacote Loca" or something like that and it was disgustingly delicious. Then we made some for ourselves last night. I tried quoting "Nacho Libre", "GET THAT CORN OUTTA MY FACE!!! you made me look like a fool last night!!!", yeah, Hermana Lucha gave me a weird look for that one! I guess you had to see the movie!
The wedding and baptism on Saturday was pretty hilarious. The lawyer that was performing the wedding taught Alexis how to tie his tie since he had never put one on before. I did Dori's hair with flowers and my awesome hair skills in about 5 minutes. The lawyer went over ALL the legal jargon during the wedding ceremony so it lasted over half an hour. He answered his cell phone in the middle of it and it was really funny. The hymns all sounded like funeral death marches. AND then to top it all off, Alexis had to get dunked twice! It was such the perfect first baptism and I am sure I will never forget it! I loved seeing his face and how happy he was after his baptism!
Well, I have to run but I hope everyone is doing well! Brush your teeth because I see everyday what happens when people don't!
I love you all!
Kailey
8.30.2011
Trabajar en La Viña del Señor
Today is another P-day already and it's crazy how fast the time is passing. It feels like I was just writing you guys yesterday. Its been a really good week! Rainy season is officially here and every afternoon it POURS like you wouldn't believe. You´d think that since they have a rainy season like this every year they´d build houses a little more leak proof, but every night our house is full of puddles. It just adds to the adventure!
I´m a little bit nervous for today because the past 2 Mondays have been fiasco's. The first Monday I spent washing clothes but all my whites got stained blue by the detergent! That was when Hermana Lucha realized that she had bought dish-washing detergent instead of laundry detergent! So I spent the next couple of hours washing out the stains until my knuckles were all raw and bloody but alas, my whites are white again! Then, last Monday I bought a ton of fruits and veggies for the week and spent a good hour washing it all, chopping it, and making this beautiful fruit salad. I bought a big Tupperware and filled it up but as I was putting it in the fridge the lid caved in and ALL the fruit spilled all over the floor. It was so horrible I almost cried. I am nervous now for what misfortune might lie in my path today!
Last Monday we got to go visit some sweet Mayan ruins! That was a lot of fun... they were smaller than I expected but it was still really cool to see. I climbed all over them and got rid of some of my pent up energy. I wish we had a bike mission! But then again, I would probably die between the insane traffic and the horrible roads. Plus our area is super tiny. It's the smallest area in the whole mission! I´ll probably go crazy since we only have like 4 streets in our entire area ha-ha.
I am starting an English class that I will teach every Tuesday. Last week only 1 person showed up but they announced it better in church this week so hopefully we will have a better turn out this time. The only problem is that I don't exactly know how to teach English. Thank goodness they won't understand enough to know any better!
So let me tell you about Alexis. I might have mentioned him before (his"wife" looks like Dobby from Harry Potter. I say wife loosely because they are not married yet. That seems to be a common theme here. I will probably be planning and attending as many weddings as I do baptisms)! He´s our golden investigator. Seriously, he is a different person than the man I met less than 3 weeks ago. He started drinking when he was 14 and has the craziest life story I have ever heard. He´s been homeless, in jail, in gangs, a drug addict, and everything in between. We were really relieved when we found out he hadn't killed anyone! (Seriously!) I don't know what's different this time because he has met with missionaries lots of times before but always turned them away. Now every time we go to his house he´s reading the book of Mormon or if he´s not at home his "wife" says he´s gone to the park or somewhere with his book of Mormon and a sucker (he sucks a sucker whenever he´s craving alcohol). He willingly accepts every commitment and has been working hard to get his wedding together before this Saturday. They are getting married in the morning and then he´s going to go straight over to get baptized! I don't think I could ask for a better first baptism. I can´t wait for this Saturday!
Last night we met with him and he told us this crazy story. He said years ago one of his friends died. This friend had a metal plate in his leg that cost a fortune. Well, Alexis and his friends decided that this friend of their's probably didn't need that metal plate in the next life, so guess what they did? That's right. They dug up that friends grave and stole his femur that had the plate attached to it. He said they spent a while trying to break the bone and get it off and then they spent the next couple of weeks trying to sell the plate but nobody would buy it because it had already been used. Go figure right?? He said that his dead friend haunted him for weeks after that. Aw man I love this guy, he´s hilarious. I can't wait for this Saturday. We are going to go find a tie today to give him for a baptism present.
I can´t wait to have more adventures this week! Don't forget that reading the book of Mormon is the key to having a good day and to having a testimony of the gospel. It's easy to see the difference between somebody who is ready for the gospel and somebody who´s not. The key is if they are reading and praying!
Well, my time is up but I hope everyone´s first week of school was great! I´d love to hear all about it!
I´m a little bit nervous for today because the past 2 Mondays have been fiasco's. The first Monday I spent washing clothes but all my whites got stained blue by the detergent! That was when Hermana Lucha realized that she had bought dish-washing detergent instead of laundry detergent! So I spent the next couple of hours washing out the stains until my knuckles were all raw and bloody but alas, my whites are white again! Then, last Monday I bought a ton of fruits and veggies for the week and spent a good hour washing it all, chopping it, and making this beautiful fruit salad. I bought a big Tupperware and filled it up but as I was putting it in the fridge the lid caved in and ALL the fruit spilled all over the floor. It was so horrible I almost cried. I am nervous now for what misfortune might lie in my path today!
Last Monday we got to go visit some sweet Mayan ruins! That was a lot of fun... they were smaller than I expected but it was still really cool to see. I climbed all over them and got rid of some of my pent up energy. I wish we had a bike mission! But then again, I would probably die between the insane traffic and the horrible roads. Plus our area is super tiny. It's the smallest area in the whole mission! I´ll probably go crazy since we only have like 4 streets in our entire area ha-ha.
I am starting an English class that I will teach every Tuesday. Last week only 1 person showed up but they announced it better in church this week so hopefully we will have a better turn out this time. The only problem is that I don't exactly know how to teach English. Thank goodness they won't understand enough to know any better!
So let me tell you about Alexis. I might have mentioned him before (his"wife" looks like Dobby from Harry Potter. I say wife loosely because they are not married yet. That seems to be a common theme here. I will probably be planning and attending as many weddings as I do baptisms)! He´s our golden investigator. Seriously, he is a different person than the man I met less than 3 weeks ago. He started drinking when he was 14 and has the craziest life story I have ever heard. He´s been homeless, in jail, in gangs, a drug addict, and everything in between. We were really relieved when we found out he hadn't killed anyone! (Seriously!) I don't know what's different this time because he has met with missionaries lots of times before but always turned them away. Now every time we go to his house he´s reading the book of Mormon or if he´s not at home his "wife" says he´s gone to the park or somewhere with his book of Mormon and a sucker (he sucks a sucker whenever he´s craving alcohol). He willingly accepts every commitment and has been working hard to get his wedding together before this Saturday. They are getting married in the morning and then he´s going to go straight over to get baptized! I don't think I could ask for a better first baptism. I can´t wait for this Saturday!
Last night we met with him and he told us this crazy story. He said years ago one of his friends died. This friend had a metal plate in his leg that cost a fortune. Well, Alexis and his friends decided that this friend of their's probably didn't need that metal plate in the next life, so guess what they did? That's right. They dug up that friends grave and stole his femur that had the plate attached to it. He said they spent a while trying to break the bone and get it off and then they spent the next couple of weeks trying to sell the plate but nobody would buy it because it had already been used. Go figure right?? He said that his dead friend haunted him for weeks after that. Aw man I love this guy, he´s hilarious. I can't wait for this Saturday. We are going to go find a tie today to give him for a baptism present.
I can´t wait to have more adventures this week! Don't forget that reading the book of Mormon is the key to having a good day and to having a testimony of the gospel. It's easy to see the difference between somebody who is ready for the gospel and somebody who´s not. The key is if they are reading and praying!
Well, my time is up but I hope everyone´s first week of school was great! I´d love to hear all about it!
I love you all!
kailey
8.15.2011
Huehuetenengo. Week 1.
Hello Everyone!
I am having the time of my life out here! I´m in Huehuetenango, and my area is called La Viña. It's not very big but there's lots of work here!
Ah, so everything the past week has been an adventure. First the bus ride from Guatemala City to Xela. Solo. Yeah it was a party. I got dropped off at the bus station and handed my ticket and that was it! I was on my own! The bus was supposedly like a Greyhound, but it was the nastiest Greyhound I've ever seen. 4 hours to Xela and halfway there my bladder was about to pop. We passed the waters of Mormon which was beautiful but I could hardly appreciate it because I was in so much pain! 5 minutes later we pulled off at a random bus stop in some little city for a 10 minute break and I found this ¨sanitary¨ station that you had to pay 2 quetz to use. Scariest place I've ever been basically. I was so nervous about those jumping worms someone told me about. Anyhow, somehow I survived and made it to Xela and got a couple contacts on the way!
I stayed at the mission home for a night and met my new companion, Hermana Lucha! She is awesome! She´s a Latina from El Salvador and we´re pretty much twins in a lot of ways. She´s tall, especially for a Latina, with super curly hair and she can´t keep anything organized either! We joke around all day long and it's a blast. Pres Bautista and his wife are great too. They´re brand new, barely a month out here, and from what I have heard they are awesome!
The next day Hermana Lucha and I got on a bus to Huehue (say wayway) which is about 2 and a half hours out from Xela. It's in the middle of a bunch of mountains and is beautiful. Today is the first day that its been cold and it's only barely because it's raining. Our house is really big, 3 stories with the terrace, but it's bare and full of spiders and potato bugs. Not the big tarantulas, just a million little ones all over the ceiling and walls. If you can believe it I´m totally used to them already. Today we get to wash clothes by hand! We have a wash thing built into the house which is nice.
So, my first night out the Mission President challenged me to commit at least one person to do something. We went out to go teach this old man who owns a little shop here. His name is Carlos. It was like I was back in Mozambique. It's so similar here. I know it's not as poor, but in some places it really is. I don't know if it is just because of the weather and the streets and types of houses, but I feel like I´m there again. It has really helped me not to have any culture shock. I think I surprised my companion because she was trying to play everything down and tell me I could get someone to wash my clothes and watching out for me with the crazy traffic and all and I didn't have a problem with any of it! It just feels like Maputo again.
Anyways, back to my first lesson with Carlos, we taught the plan of salvation and it went well. I committed him to pray but I don't think he was ready because the next time we went to see him he hid in the back of his shop and wouldn't come out...
Thursday was my first official real day out as a proselyting missionary and it was so much fun! I still have a hard time with conversational Spanish but with the gospel stuff I´m doing pretty good so I haven't been very nervous. It definitely helps having a trainer to jump in though. My Spanish is getting a lot better! I´m almost at the same level that I am with Portuguese, it's just hard when people have odd accents and speak really fast (which unfortunately is the case with a lot of people here).
We found this little lady named Angelina to teach. Her daughter is 10 and somehow is a member, but nobody else in her family is. They live in a cinder block tiny house with dirt floors and they have no water. We taught the first lesson to her using super basic Spanish because her first language is some other dialect and she can't read. She has a 2 year old named Orlando and a little baby girl about a month old. Everything was filthy and there were chickens pecking at our feet inside the house while we taught. First experience with fleas!
We have like 7 new investigators in the past few days and most of them want to get baptized! The problem is, 5 of them need to get married before they can. Nobody here is married! And it's 5 separate couples! They all live with less active members... So I will most likely end up planning and attending about as many weddings as I do baptisms.
I eat lunch with different members everyday but we do our own breakfast and dinner. It is interesting since we don't have much to cook with or money to buy food with. I´m finding lots of different ways to eat re-fried beans and eggs... try a bean and banana sandwich! It's actually really good! Bean and egg sandwich... plain bean tortillas... egg tacos... and yeah... We´re gonna try to make no bakes today! We don't have an oven and only one electric stove thingamajig. It's a real party! I love it!
I love you all!
Hermana Battaglia
ps I'll send pics next monday!
8.11.2011
On my way to Quetzaltenengo!
Tomorrow morning we are on our way to get dropped off in our first area's. It is about a 4 hour drive to Retahulehu where we will drop off an Elder who is also going out early and then another hour to Xela (local word for Quetzaltenengo) where I will be! I am so excited I can´t even explain it!
The Spanish and Portuguese are pretty crossed in my head... I'm scared that I am going to lose all my Portuguese! I can't speak in it anymore! I still mix random Portuguese words into my Spanish but I can't think in Portuguese anymore. It's all just a jumbled mess in my brain. I´m sure the Lord will help me remember it when I get back though.
I´m sorry I haven't been able to write each person yet. Our Pdays in the CCM have been crammed with stuff and we haven't really had a good amount of time for letters.
I miss our late night talks about the gospel. I think about them a lot because so much of the things we discussed are things that I´m trying to learn now to teach in Spanish. Things like what it means to repent and how we can endure to the end.
My companion left for nicaragua today! I love her and miss her but she is going to do so good! I'm so excited to go but I'm terrified at the same time!! I love the people. I've barely met any of them but I love them. I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to help them the way they need but I guess that's where relying on the Lord comes in.
I gotta run but I love you all!
Hermana Battaglia.
The Spanish and Portuguese are pretty crossed in my head... I'm scared that I am going to lose all my Portuguese! I can't speak in it anymore! I still mix random Portuguese words into my Spanish but I can't think in Portuguese anymore. It's all just a jumbled mess in my brain. I´m sure the Lord will help me remember it when I get back though.
I´m sorry I haven't been able to write each person yet. Our Pdays in the CCM have been crammed with stuff and we haven't really had a good amount of time for letters.
I miss our late night talks about the gospel. I think about them a lot because so much of the things we discussed are things that I´m trying to learn now to teach in Spanish. Things like what it means to repent and how we can endure to the end.
My companion left for nicaragua today! I love her and miss her but she is going to do so good! I'm so excited to go but I'm terrified at the same time!! I love the people. I've barely met any of them but I love them. I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to help them the way they need but I guess that's where relying on the Lord comes in.
I gotta run but I love you all!
Hermana Battaglia.
BOO!
Its been another crazy week at the CCM! Sunday 3 of the 6 sisters in my room were bedridden with weird stomach stuff, then that night me and my companion came down with it too. Several of the sisters in our hall had it... i think that around 10 or 15 of all the girls have been sick in the past 5 days... and theres only about 25 total! Dinner conversation has all gone to the toilet... Who knew!! Secretly I'm hoping that this is the rumored "boo" but i´m sure that one day that's going to hit and I´m going to laugh that I thought this could be anything close. Anyhow! I'm sure you all are excited to hear about the CCM bathroom traffic but I´m going to move on to other things for the sake of time and manners!
So last week we got to go to the temple!! So so so beautiful i loved it so much! One of the highlights of the mission and I'm excited to go back today!
Yesterday was the best day of all by far!! We got to go out proselyting!!!! We were supposed to go Monday but they let us go yesterday instead since we were sick. Me, Hermana Broadbent, and Hermana Willie were compañeras and man it was a blast! All the Nortes were supposed to be paired with their Latina companions but there aren't very many of those in our group so I got to be the Latina! It was really funny and pretty stressful because I'm the only one of the 3 of us who really spoke any Spanish so I ended up doing 90 percent of the talking and I kept drawing a blank! Luckily the people are so humble here that it didn't even matter! They were all willing to listen. I don't know if I´m just being a greenie or whatever but I think that most of the people we spoke to were soo ready for the gospel. They were hungry for it!! I can't wait to be out there next week when I actually get to follow up with people! Then teach them and see them change! It was so hard getting their contact information and then handing it over to some other missionaries who didn't hear how special each of them was! I'm praying that they dont get lost or dropped along the way.
Pray for me as I head out! I can't wait to meet the Mission President and my senior compañera! I love you all!
I love you!
Kailey
7.25.2011
I Made It!
AHHH!!! I can´t tell you how excited I am to finally be in the country!! It's unreal how beautiful and green everything is. It feels like I´m in the movie Emperor´s New Groove... just with a lot more buildings everywhere! It actually reminds me a ton of Mozambique just greener and more hills.
So I have AWESOME news. I just talked with my new Maestra about being in a more advanced class or what I could do since I can already understand everything and she told me that if I have everything down in 3 weeks I can go straight into the field 3 weeks early!!!!!! I´m gonna work my butt off and make it happen!!
I totally gave away a Book of Mormon on the plane from SLC to LA! It was way awesome but I was just laughing at how funny it was to have 30 green missionaries on that flight all hoping to have some missionary experience and those poor people on the plane probably felt like they were surrounded and under attack! I think I did a pretty good job of carrying a normal conversation and not freaking the guy out haha. The missionary sitting on the other side of him on the other hand was making things super weird talking about his girlfriend back home and how he wants to get married in the temple and asking if that would be something he would be interested in doing...:( So I had to work double hard trying to fix the awkwardness and repair the damage but it was good for me! AND I gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he´d read a chapter. He seemed interested so who knows! There were missionaries in every row around me that told me they were trying to listen in the entire time and were all congratulating me on doing a good job haha. I just hope he actually reads it!
Ok we only got 15 minutes to let you know we arrived safely. Our P days are Wednesdays so I will talk to you next week!!! I love you all! Pray that I can get the Spanish and teaching down in 3 weeks!
Love kailey
The address here is:
Hermana Kailey Battaglia
Blv. Vista hermosa
23-71 zona 15
Vista Hermosa 1 c.p. 01015
Guatemala, Guatemala
Centro America
7.14.2011
Last EMail from Provo MTC!
Hey family!!!
So I have been teaching lessons but they're to mock investigators so far... so no baptisms yet! This Saturday it has to be in Spanish so wish us luck! My comp is having a harder time with the language than I am... I just wish I didn't have to wait another 6 weeks to get into the field! I think I could be ready as far as Spanish goes in another week or so... to bad they don't have a 6 week track instead of just 3 or 9 weeks... oh well! It's gonna be great going to Guatemala and being immersed in the language. I think it's gonna come really fast after that. I'm reading the scriptures only in Spanish now and I understand them really well! I think the Spirit is helping me understand and remember everything a lot better than I would on my own. It's incredible how strong the Spirit is here and how often I can feel it. It's all day everyday, especially as I'm learning and doing hard things... which is pretty much alll the time. It's amazing how quickly the Spirit comes when you bear testimony. Even to a mock investigator or in a fake lesson. Try it! OK, the comp is gonna log me out now! I love you all thanks for everything!
kailey
So I have been teaching lessons but they're to mock investigators so far... so no baptisms yet! This Saturday it has to be in Spanish so wish us luck! My comp is having a harder time with the language than I am... I just wish I didn't have to wait another 6 weeks to get into the field! I think I could be ready as far as Spanish goes in another week or so... to bad they don't have a 6 week track instead of just 3 or 9 weeks... oh well! It's gonna be great going to Guatemala and being immersed in the language. I think it's gonna come really fast after that. I'm reading the scriptures only in Spanish now and I understand them really well! I think the Spirit is helping me understand and remember everything a lot better than I would on my own. It's incredible how strong the Spirit is here and how often I can feel it. It's all day everyday, especially as I'm learning and doing hard things... which is pretty much alll the time. It's amazing how quickly the Spirit comes when you bear testimony. Even to a mock investigator or in a fake lesson. Try it! OK, the comp is gonna log me out now! I love you all thanks for everything!
kailey
7.13.2011
Week 2
Hola! Bet you can't guess what that means...haha. So I'm really starting to understand the whole "frumpy" sister missionary thing. There is no time to get ready and look normal, let alone actually look nice. Every day after gym the debate is always whether to have smelly sweaty hair, or look like a wet dog for a while. It depends on the day what I decide.
Here's a glimpse of my schedule. I'm up at 6:30, at the very latest, and in class by 7 for personal study. Breakfast at 8, then class for 3 hours or so where we learn the lessons in English usually, but sometimes in Spanish too. Then we have lunch around 12:15, gym after lunch (which is terrible because I usually feel sick and the gym is closed to refinish the floor so we have to go outside in the heat). My knee is doing a lot better but I still can't run more than a couple of minutes without it aching pretty bad. With the gym closed I can't use the cycling machine so It's hard for me to get a good workout. Anyways, after gym we run back to our room where I debate whether to do my hair or not, then sprint over to class for TALL lab, which is a language learning on the computer. Then we have class for another 3 hours (one of which is usually companion study) and language study for an hour. Dinner is some time in there too. We finish at 9, plan for the next day till 9:30, then run back to our rooms to be ready for bed by 10:15, then journal for 15 minutes and lights out by 10:30! There is not any free time during the day unless you count getting ready for bed, but that is the fastest hour of all 24. It's weird, up until the first Sunday, the days felt like they dragged on for hours and hours. But now it's Friday and Monday feels like it was yesterday.
I can't tell you how excited I am to get to Guatemala! I learned a new word from a Guatemalan Elder yesterday. It's "puchica". He said it is a good word when you get surprised or as a swear word replacement. Here are a few entertaining Spanish mistakes I have made so far:
*We can be forgiven of our "pescados" (fish) instead of "pecados" (sins)
*Embarazado is not the translation for embarrassed! It means pregnant...
*Ropa does not mean rope. It means clothing. One Elder told some investigators that he climbs mountains "sin ropa" (without clothing). Needless to say they were quite impressed!
I love my companion and my whole district and I'll be sad to leave next week, but I am so excited for how much I am going to learn in Guatemala. I hope everyone there is doing well. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you!
Hermana Kailey Battaglia
Just so you know, my mailbox number changed to #358 in case you want to write me on Dear Elder.com or send me a package! (I leave the MTC July 19th so don't send anything here after the 18th.)
Here's a glimpse of my schedule. I'm up at 6:30, at the very latest, and in class by 7 for personal study. Breakfast at 8, then class for 3 hours or so where we learn the lessons in English usually, but sometimes in Spanish too. Then we have lunch around 12:15, gym after lunch (which is terrible because I usually feel sick and the gym is closed to refinish the floor so we have to go outside in the heat). My knee is doing a lot better but I still can't run more than a couple of minutes without it aching pretty bad. With the gym closed I can't use the cycling machine so It's hard for me to get a good workout. Anyways, after gym we run back to our room where I debate whether to do my hair or not, then sprint over to class for TALL lab, which is a language learning on the computer. Then we have class for another 3 hours (one of which is usually companion study) and language study for an hour. Dinner is some time in there too. We finish at 9, plan for the next day till 9:30, then run back to our rooms to be ready for bed by 10:15, then journal for 15 minutes and lights out by 10:30! There is not any free time during the day unless you count getting ready for bed, but that is the fastest hour of all 24. It's weird, up until the first Sunday, the days felt like they dragged on for hours and hours. But now it's Friday and Monday feels like it was yesterday.
I can't tell you how excited I am to get to Guatemala! I learned a new word from a Guatemalan Elder yesterday. It's "puchica". He said it is a good word when you get surprised or as a swear word replacement. Here are a few entertaining Spanish mistakes I have made so far:
*We can be forgiven of our "pescados" (fish) instead of "pecados" (sins)
*Embarazado is not the translation for embarrassed! It means pregnant...
*Ropa does not mean rope. It means clothing. One Elder told some investigators that he climbs mountains "sin ropa" (without clothing). Needless to say they were quite impressed!
I love my companion and my whole district and I'll be sad to leave next week, but I am so excited for how much I am going to learn in Guatemala. I hope everyone there is doing well. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you!
Hermana Kailey Battaglia
Just so you know, my mailbox number changed to #358 in case you want to write me on Dear Elder.com or send me a package! (I leave the MTC July 19th so don't send anything here after the 18th.)
7.05.2011
Dearelder.com
If you want to send Kailey a letter while she is in the MTC, dearelder.com is the fastest and least expensive way to do it. Just log on to dearelder.com and request MTC delivery. She will receive it the same day that you send it if it is submitted before noon. Her Address is: Hermana Battaglia, MTC Mailbox #344, GUA-QUE 0719, 2005 N 900 E, Provo, Ut 84604. Her estimated departure date is July 19th. Use this info to fill in the blanks on dearelder.com. She would love to hear from you! I also found out that the UPS stores have daily delivery to the MTC. Get your package there by 1:00pm and they will deliver it the same day, and on Fridays, its FREE! (free at the UPS store by Macy's in Pleasant Grove)
La Primera Semana
Hola familia!!!
So my P day is actually going to be on thursdays but this week since it's all different for the new missionaries we got to get on today! I am absolutely loving the MTC!!! Yesterday I got tested out of the beginning Spanish class and am now in intermediate! It's awesome but it meant that I got switched out of my district so i switched classrooms, bedrooms, and companions. I wrote a letter that should get there by Monday if its not there yet but Hermana Nelson is no longer my companion. I am with Hermana Martino now, who I absolutely love! I don't think we've been together even 24 hours yet but i love her and we are already a great companionship, i can tell. We had to teach the first lesson yesterday and again today and we did really well i think. Monday we go to the TRC to get real investigators to teach which will be a challenge but will be so much fun! Hma Martino totally reminds me of Holly Aldred in the way she looks and talks and it is a lot of fun.
I am busy allll of the time I can't believe how much we do and get done in one day but i still can't find enough time to get all the stuff we're supposed to do done!! I'm going to be good at managing minutes by the end of these three weeks here. It was especially crazy trying to find time to repack and move yesterday... Luckily some awesome sisters helped. My Spanish is improving a lot i think... I can pray and bear my testimony and can understand almost all of what people say to me. I'm excited to start learning the lessons in Spanish. right now we're just getting to know them in english so we understand them better. Well i don't have much time i have to finish reading the handbook before tomorrow so i don't break anymore rules on accident and i'm supposed to be in class in 10 minutes... but send me a letter on DearElder! They print out the mail and deliver it same day so that i don't have to spend my precious 30 short minutes on email reading the letter, just responding. Tell everyone to do that if they wanna write me while i'm here. It's like Christmas to get mail :) k everyone. i love you so much!! I miss you but I'm exactly where i'm supposed to be and i'm so happy to be serving the Lord. be good!
Hermana Battaglia
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