Ay, ay, ay‏

I feel like we have been running for the past week straight. Crazy stuff.

Pictures -
The three baptisms we had yesterday.
-Gaby is the youngest (the pic with just the three of us) 13 years old. Her two older sisters were baptized last year and the year before. Amazing girls. Gaby has grown so much. She is so excited about the Gospel and is so much more attentive than she was before.

-Heidy is our rockstar, increbible, golden investigator. Her testimony is solid and incredible. She´s twenty. Her two brothers are members, but not her parents. We met her and she got baptized within 4 weeks. She is fantastic.

-Ulfa, fifty, is from one of my fave fams in La Mariposa. I know I will be telling stories about her and her family forEVER. She´s the "esposa" of Renè (the 68 year old that calls me Boquitas, that got baptized last month). 4 of her 6 kids are members and were all first. They have around 10-15 people living in their house (about the same size as my and Hna Wetzel´s house).

-The freezer is COMPLETELY filled with ice. I had to take a knife to it just to get it open. I was chiseling away for about an hour. We had clean checks this morning and we deserved our "pass" so much. My arms were killing me on Saturday (when we cleaned).

-Dishes. I love the pictures that makes it look like you are actually in Guatemala and on a mission. Too great.

Hermana Wetzel and I have a feeling that we might be changing this Wednesday. As President Baldwin was leaving our house from clean checks he said, "Okay, Hermanas, we´ll see you soon." Unless there is a mission activity or training that we don´t know about, the only time we would see him soon would be Wednesday at changes. If we do, Hermana Wetzel will most likely be leaving and I´ll be receiving a Latina! Vamos a ver. I love Hna Wetzel and would be way too overjoyed to be with her another change, but whatever the Lord wants, we are ready to do! Plus, change is always fun and good.

I wish I could describe the past week that we have been through trying to get everything ready for the clean checks and, most importantly, the baptisms, but I definitely cannot do it justice. Amazing blessing - we had worked from 630 until 1 o´clock on just cleaning Saturday morning, then we went out to work, but there was still a lot of work to be done. When we got to the house at 930 that night, we walked in and EVERYTHING WAS CLEAN - and I mean... sparkling. Some areas that we had scrubbed forever and still were dirty and off-white, were glistening and spotless. The family who owns the house (who always feed us, give us references, and do everything they can for us and everyone), los Morales, came around 4 and stayed until 6 and finished everything we had been working on. All of them - the two parents, 3 kids, and abuelita. We were in shock for a good twenty minutes. Hermana Wetzel has cried once in the whole (almost) 12 months that she has been out and said that she has never wanted to cry more than she did in those moments. It was insane. They are a family who truly understands and acts upon ".. do unto the least of these.. ye do it unto me."

I have seen so many miracles and blessings this week and my faith and appreciation have grown so much. I hope that everyone is able to open there eyes a little wider and see the small and large blessings and miracles that are constantly happening and being given all around us.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Marin

Feliz, feliz, feliz‏

Amazing week!

We found a great family on Saturday and are excited for them. It´s so hard here to get the family all together at once (even if it is just a husband and wife), because the hubbies work all the time here! It will probably be a long time coming with a few of our families right now.

I have realized Heavenly Father`s help so much this past week. I find that I am so much more peaceful and less nervous lately. It´s not that I was ever fearful or super nervous before, but being immersed in a completely Spanish environment and being expected to teach is intimidating! I´ve never had a breakdown or moment of thinking "What am I doing here?" - not ONCE, but I usually just had to take a big breath and go for it, which was tough at times. It´s not any easier now, but I think that I´ve learned to trust in my God that much more. I know that I don´t know Spanish well at all, but I know that His Spirit will guide me and help me through anything and everything.

Out of time! AGGHH. SOrry
Adios

The Real Guatemala‏

¡Hola mis amores!

Another amazing week in La Mariposa.

Random things:

- Bitsy, in boy form, lives three streets down from us. It´s awesome. I´ve never seen a dog that looks exactly like Bitsy, besides her sister that I don´t remember. I´m going to get a picture one of these days.
-Hermana Wetzel and I have the BEST bathroom experiences here. There is no verguenza between the two of us. The fun is usually at member´s houses, at the church, and various other places. Sometimes it´s just that there isn´t enough water in the toilet, so we have to fill it up from the sink with bowls, or there isn´t water at all, or there isn´t toilet paper, or there is no where to go to the bathroom/no one is home, so we have to improvise, or there´s no door, or there´s no seat, and lot of other fun stuff. Siempre hay adventuras.
-La reunion sacramental was busting full yesterday. We even ran out of water for the Sacrament! Given, we should always be prepared, and that shouldn´t necessarily happen, but I was beaming when they were buscando agua (remember: clean water isn´t easily accesible here).
-They announced our new bishopric yesterday and everyone is pretty jazzed. We love our old bishop and bishopric, but are excited for the newbies and looking forward to working with them. The bishop is one of my favorite people here, Bishop Orozco, he´s too great with the best sense of humor.
-I can´t even express how well we are fed here. It seems like EVERYONE knows how to cook delicious. It´s too great.
- I never thought I would dislike the States as much as I do at times here. I am so grateful for my country and think it´s truly fantastic, but a la gran... soooooo many of the women´s husbands here are in the U.S., haven´t seen them in years, and don´t know when they´re coming back... if they even will come back. Some get married again there, some just abandon their families. We know of a few families where the husband has returned, but we hate hearing the response to "... y su esposo?" of "En los estados."
- I cannot wait for the day that I can understand jokes.

Okay, so we had divisions this past week for a day. I went to La Gomera, close to Sipicaté in the coast (that spelling may be very wrong). It is hot, hot, hot there, kind of reminded me of Louisiana, but evidently, I had it pretty easy, because usually it´s much hotter. It´s the hottest area in the mission. It was awesome though. It looked exactly what I had been imagining Guatemala to look like before I got here. I saw my first monkey, drank straight from a fresh-picked coconut from their neighbors, made tortillas (tried to), and sweated. I was with Hna Robles and she was great. Divisions are fun, because you get to see a different area, have different experiences, see how other hermanas teach, contact, and just live life day to day. The majority of the houses are made of tin. It´s seems to be a pretty tough area. Hna Robles said that most of the people are pretty uneducated, more of the hick area of Guatemala, so it is harder to teach, but she is learning how to teach very simply. It was an amazing experience. It really made me realize what a dream La Mariposa is and has been. I have had it way too easy, and according to Hermana Wetzel, I´ll continue to have it easy for a while.

We have the most amazing jovenes here. They all want to come out with and help us all the time. We dropped a couple investigators off at a Young Women/Young Men activity a couple weeks ago and all the jovenes are constantly asking us about them, talking to them, inviting and picking them up for activities and church. They´re fantastic. One of the investigators, Benjamin, said "I´ve been to a lot of different youth groups at different churches, but there´s just something different about this one." La Mariposa is pretty fantastic.

Hope everyone is doing AMAZING.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Marin

Hola!‏

Hola...

This past week was fantastic. Hermana Wetzel and I are working hard, having too much fun, working with incredible people, and trying to be better every day. Yesterday, Ingrid got baptized (our ROCKSTAR investigator) and it was beautiful. I just can´t express how amazing she is. We are so excited for her and know that she is going to do great things and receive muchas bendiciones. We are working with some pretty fantastic families who we are really hopeful for. We have some pretty high, hopeful goals for February, so we would love if all of you could pray for the hearts of the people of La Mariposa to be opened and to feel the promptings and love from Heavenly Father.

Hermana Wetzel thinks that at least one of us will be leaving La Mariposa this next change (Feb 23), so we are ready to work our tails of these next few weeks. We are way too blessed to be in this country. The people are so humble and have a love and fear of God. I´ve been able to take part in 4 baptisms already, when other missionaries are lucky to see that in their whole mission. At the same time, that gives us A LOT of work to do, because there are so many people ready and willing to hear and accept the Gospel. The best part is that we are just the instruments. We only see changes when the Spirit is present. It´s incredible to see just how powerful and essential the Spirit is.

I want to remember so much from each day, becuase I learn way tooooo much each day, but there is no time to write in my journal. The past week, I have probably written 2 pages (in the MTC and CCM, I was writing 2 pages a day on average), so that´s tough, because I know I am going to forget so many amazing things.

The members here rely soooo much on the missionaries, so much more than in the States. I can´t even begin to tell all of the ways we are involved in everything and with everyone. It´s awesome though and it is a blast. We have some amazing leaders and members.

I´m learning sooo much from Hermana Wetzel constantly. I have been told so many times by leaders and other missionaries that she is the best sister missionary in the mission. I know that I´m taking a lot for granted, not on purpose. The way she teaches and talks with people is just so smooth and she makes it seem so simple, I know that I won´t realize all the awesome things she does until I am not with her anymore. She has so much love for the people, is so selfless, knows how to make everyone feel comfortable, always strives to listen and be sensitive to the Spirit, and so much more. Plus, she´s a blast and everyone adores her.

Rest assured, we are being taken care of here. We get fed constantly... both of us have for sure gained weight... even with all the walking and heat ;)

The family that I mentioned last week, fam Xicay are amazing. It´s hard to get all of them in one place at one time (all 6), especially now that two of the boyfriends are interested, but it is always an incredible experience to be with them.

I am definitely going to learn patience here. It´s hard being with and teaching someone, having soooooooo much hope and excitement for them, and at times, being let down or them just not progressing as fast as you know they could. I know, without a single doubt, how much this Gospel will bless them and their families and truly how much they need it, but sometimes they are aprehensive. I learn so much everyday. I love feeling just a smidgeon of how much love God has for each and every one of His hijos. There is soooo much joy in this work.

The Spanish is coming. Some days, I feel like I have learned a ton... others, I feel completely in the dark. I have found that I can keep a decent, simple conversation up... even without Hna Wetzel right by my side, but we have a good system of me grabbing her backpack and swinging her around subtely when I don´t know what´s going on ;) She would say that my Spanish is better than what it really is... she´s too nice of a person. I usually always get the generals of a conversation. When it has to do with the Gospel, I usually know excatly what is being said. Plus, I can understand a lot better than I can speak. It´s fun though, and people are usually pretty patient.

Mom, Hna Wetzel says that her family sent all her packages normal.. flat rate she thinks, but she´s not positive. But she says that she has received every package that they have sent... she gets packages constantly, so that´s saying a lot, including a package that had a pair of shoes in them... And I got your other Cmas card this past week. Thank you! You are too funny... with hardly any writing. Did you get my letter... I sent it at least 2 weeks ago, I think.

Is there anything that anyone wants from here? I´m going to try to send out a package either tomorrow or in the coming weeks.

Everything is FANTASTIC here... so don´t worry about me, but everyone else needs to keep me updated! Thanks for all of the love, support, emails, and prayers!

Con muchisimo amor,
Hermana Marin