Too much to tell...‏

9779 - Hermana Garcia
9836 - My new comp, Hermana Pacheco and this is Hermana Pacheco`s first area... lucky, awesome girl.

Well.... are you ready?

I am in Tecpàn, Guatemala.

I`m in the legit mountains. It`s freezing. Tecpàn is pretty famous for the mayan ruins that are found there... We haven`t gone yet, but you`d better believe that they`re in our plans.

I`m in my fourth branch. The only ward that I have been in was my first area in La Mariposa. As far as I know, of the 15 areas that have sisters, only 3 are branches. I have been in every single one. The Lord must know that I don`t work well in wards or something... haha.

I am with Hermana Pacheco. She is from Honduras and is WONDERFUL. She is the complete, complete opposite of Hermana Garcia, but I love them both and we get along great.

Tecpàn has been a famously tough area. The elders that were here before did not help us out AT ALL. They only left us with one investigator and they were great about breaking rules, so we`re here making LOTS of changes.

I have seen the Lord`s hand SOOOO incredibly much in this past week. Not for one moment, have I felt nervous or discouraged. I feel so comfortable here. I know it`s where I`m supposed to be. President Brough was talking to us yesterday about how he makes the changes by what the Spirit tells him, then he talked specifically about me, using me as an example... he said that HE didn`t want to put me in a different area for my last change, but that the Lord wanted otherwise.

Our faith and hope are very high right now and I trust in the Lord. I have felt so incredibly good in these days and I know that he loves us and knows what He`s doing.

I love you all!
Hermana Marìn

A few changes...‏

First of all... please forgive me for not writing very much in these past couple of weeks. I´ll try to do better now....

Well.... I´m out of San Pedro. Changes are tomorrow. I´ll be in a different area for my very last change (6 weeks). Oh... and I might also be opening an area and training again.... President Brough REALLY does not want me getting baggy. This will probably be my hardest working change yet...

Normally, we would have found out about changes yesterday in the morning, but because of the way they are doing things now, all missionaries that will be training find out the Tuesday before (more than a week before the actual changes). I´ve known, but couldn´t get the nerve up to tell anyone in our branch. I´m actually incredibly calm about everything. I adore my area and my comp, but I know that they both need someone else, someone better.

Hermana Garcia will do an amazing job leading the area. I have had an absolute blast with her. We do so great together, but she´ll just see how much better she can and will be without me. I don´t know how much better I will do without her... but here goes. She is happy to be staying in San Pedro though (more than anything, because of her giant bed, haha).

I have no idea where I´ll be off to... could be the coast, mountains, or capital... I´ll let you know in about 7 days ;)

Love you all!

First time for everything‏!! February 28, 2012

These alfonbras aren´t anything compared to what they do in downtown Antigua.. but these are what our little aldeas can do!! I think that they´re beautiful. The official start to all this Catholic seasonal celebration of the 40 days before the Semana Santa. It´s going to get pretty crazy here in Antigua.... and who even knows if I´ll be here!! "A donde me mandes iré..."

On Sunday... we taught a preacher... in his own church. It was AWESOME! We taught him and his wife. They are so incredibly humble and we actually have hope for them!!! I´m real sorry. I´ll try writing more next week... I promise!!! Love you all!!!

Don´t hate me.‏

We had divisions this week. I was with, for the first time, a gringa with less time than me! It was weird and very awesome. Her name is Hermana Knudsen. She´s from Utah. And is fantastic. It was a blast being with a gringa again and being able to help her with the language a bit and give her some support, etc. We got to teach one of our investigators in English actually. It was incredible.

We´re doing great here in San Pedro.

I´m really sorry for this short one... no time.

Love you all!

Feliz Dia de Cariño/Feliz Dia San Valentín!!!‏

I was in the States yesterday... les explico... We got a call Sunday night saying that we had to be in the cap at 7:30 am the next day, because Hermana Garcia had to sign some documents for residency (or something like that). We left the house at 5:15and didn´t get there until 8:30 (I hate traffic... I haven´t had to deal with it AT ALL in any of my areas...). Those are just little sidenotes.. the real deal is that there were a group of 10 ish newbies that had to sign, but that had to go to a government place to do it, and we (their companions) had to stay behind in the office... or so we thought at first. We were going to have to wait for more than 5 hours... so they secretaries told us that we could go to the mall instead!!!! It was awesome. Hermana Winder´s (one of my comps from the CCM) comp had to be there, too, so while our comps went to sign... we went to the mall ;) Bad news... I hadn´t brought any money, because they hadn´t told us beforehand, and we don´t like walking around in the big city with a lot of cash or credit cards... But it was weird... Don´t worry... I knew Hermana Garcia was going to be way jealous, so I bought her a few nicnacs with the little money I had for Vday :)

We were visiting an investigator family for the second time on Sunday. We asked them if they had prayed to know if what we shared was true, if José Smith truly was a prophet... Nereda (the mom/wife) surprised us with a very upbeat
"Well... hermanas... I did! I asked and I got an answer..." You better believe that at this point we were almost jumping out of our seats.
"Really? And how did you feel youP answer was." "Well, he told me that it was good and that I should keep listening." We congratulated her and started talking about how asking God and not cualquier persona is the key to finding something out for yourself and then she said..."Well, I didn´t ask cualquier persona, sino someone really close to the things of God..." What!?!?! Yep.. my hopes fell down real quick... but we were grateful that she didn´t ask someone that would have told her to stop listening to us... hahaha.

Love you all! Don´t be baggy!

I love the mission...‏ (February 7, 2012)

Well, we had a great week. Sorry about the delay in emails, but we had interviews yesterday, so our internet time was changed to today :)

Don´t worry... Dad´s given me chicote for not being a good communicator... here goes ;)

I adore La Antigua. Hermana Garcia and I have been trying to take as much advantage as possible of all of the great places to see, eat, etc.... and at the same time, trying not to look like tourists :) When we come back to visit... I´ll know all the great places to eat. There´s even a chocolate musuem!

I´ve also answered a question of my own that I have had for a very long time. I never understood how it was that all the gringos could adapt so much more easily to the food here (maybe not health-wise, but actually liking the food) than the latinos. It´s because in the States we eat so much of everything... we eat chinese, mexican, italian... everything food! I don´t know.. it´s just a small thought, and not always true, but it´s a little of what I´ve found with some latin missionaries here.. some can be so incredibly picky and not like the food of a country that is 2 hours away from their house.

Things are going great with Hermana Garcia. I love having little flashbacks and realizations and enlightenments that have to do with the time that I was being trained with Hermana Wetzel. I am still so incredibly grateful that she was my mom. She´s a legend. President Brough even mentioned her randomly in a zone meeting yesterday.

We are working with a few young men that are our age (with much cuidado! don´t worry). It´s actually a great story.... remember the men that I mentioned a couple of months ago that always said stupid, offensive things to us when we walked by? Well, we´re teaching two of them... haha. And we actually got a reference from a different one that is actually turning out to be pretty positive, too. The two that we are teaching are brothers, Byron and Walter. Byron takes things lots more seriously and actually has a good amount of interest in the Church and message. Walter is a bit more of a pest, but yesterday we had a great lesson with them. We were just teaching Byron at first, getting ready to challenge him to baptism, when Walter walked in, so we thought that we had lost our chance... but Walter actually expressed his thoughts and feelings about how he wants to change and stop sinning as much, but that it´s hard. We ended up challenging them both... we are hoping to see true and real changes in them.

The other one (the reference I just mentioned) is named Hector. He is from Guate, but actually lived in the States for more than 20 years, so he´s kind of an Anny case... he knows the two languages perfectly, but his strong point is actually English. I love having quick conversations in english (usually just over the phone... we teach in Spanish, because my comp´s English is a work in progress :))... and I love it!! I love missionary work in English! I love Spanish and can communicate just fine, but I just feel so much more free in English. But this time has also helped me realize the purpose I have in being on a Spanish-speaking mission and the Lord knows what He´s doing and does everything in a way to benefit us... but it ends up being our choice to let our situations effect us possitively or negatively.

We are also working with a great family. Familia Franco. They´re positive, but it´s just the same old story with our area... it´s real tough to help them understand. It´s just incredible how truly blessed we are to live in a country where education is so important and necessary.... Es una lucha... but we´re pressing forward and trying to be more patient and improve our teaching abilities.

Love you all!!!

FOTOS!!

9489 - We just have the dad left....
9518 - 13 year old, very spunky and feisty and amazing Ingrid.
9437 - Washing in a public pila... I refuse to go home in 3 months.
9527 - Hermana Wetzel... do you like my shirt? To all, enjoy this, because I would never put this outfit on at home.
9536 - Everyone.


Jorge, the teenager that got baptized two weeks ago, baptized his mom and sister with the proper authority of God. He was so nervous and had to do everything a couple times over, but he did it and it was incredible!! They are an amazing family... we just have to really work with their dad... he doens´t listen to us at all.