Training !?!

As you know from my email the other week, we had changes. It is crazy how fast a change seems to go by. They seem to take forever during the process, but then as you look back, you see how short they are. I was ready for change though so we could make this area even better. I do miss Hna. Rodriguez though.

 

Our Church Building

On Tuesday all the people who have changes go to a Stake Center in the Capital. A taxi comes in the  morning to pick us up so we can be there on time. This morning however one did not come. We called and they said they would be there in ten minutes. The minutes passed and still there was no taxi. It was a crazy thing and they kept telling us to wait. Finally they did come right at 10 when the change meeting was going on. We were late. haha. It was a little sad to miss the Farewell testimonies but since there were so many going home, we made it in time to see the changes. We were about 1.5 hours late if any of you are wondering.

 

At the meeting I found out that I would not just be getting a new missionary in my area, but in my mission. In mission terms, I have a daughter. She is from Nicaragua and is 20 years old. Like me she is a convert and was baptized in February of 2010. She is also the only member in her family. I thought that was a little crazy but cool. Her name is Hermana. Duarte. She has enthusiasm to work and that is really good. I noticed right away with both of us how much better our contacts were. 

 

It is also really nice to have a new missionary because they can ask a lot of the questions you want to but can`t since you have been in the area for a while. I am excited to work with her and hope that together we can truly change lives.

 

Her first day in the field we had a lesson with Nestor, the 15 year old we are teaching. One of the hardest things for him to do is pray in the lessons. However now he has prayed two times in a row. He is reading and praying and I am pretty sure he wants to be baptized. We need to meet with his parents now. He is so afraid to talk to them because they are very Catholic. Luckily I think we can help him because both my companion and I know what this is like.

 

Wednesday we had zone meeting. There were 2 new Nortes in my zone. They asked me a lot of questions about how to say different things in Spanish. It is crazy that I can answer their questions. I guess I do have pretty good Spanish especially for the time I have been here. I also do not know for sure but I do not think that I am a greenie anymore. I do not quite have 6 months in the mission but I am training.

My Best Friend - Actually a pet of a member.

 

Thursday was probably one of the strangest days in my misison. I spent most of the day in a car and spoke English a lot. My companion needed to go to the doctor because she has asthma but the people in the airport would not let her take her medicine with her. We went to the office and there I received a lot of letters and a package. It was just what I needed. We waited for the nurse to come and I had a great conversation with the elders in the office. I even found out Elder Issacson wrote about me in his journal my first day I arrived. He asked me my name and I told him it was Cailey. I guess that was awkward for him. haha 

 

Once the nurse got there we went to the area doctor where I was able to see the Cameron`s again. Then we drove in the car trying to find the medicine for my companion. You do not need prescriptions here. In one place they had a massage chair. I forgot what those feel like. It was like  I was in the USA because Guate really is different in a car. Also the places we went to were really nice. 

Funny Picture - I thought you would like.

 

The rest of the week was good with teaching investigators and strengthening the members . Three of our investigators also said that they would go to church. I was so excited, but then they didn`t. It is always sad when things like that happen. Well I need to go, but thank you for all of the love and support you give me. I know the work I am doing here is the work of the Lord. Have a great week.

 

Hermana Cailey Gurule

Change Makes Us Better

You are all probably wondering what changes I am talking about. Every six weeks in the misison there are changes and sometimes there are changes in your area and other times there is not. In the  last change my (mom) Hna. Calero left. This time my (sister) Hna. Rodriguez is leaving. I am really excited for this though because like always I have a lot of ideas and I can see this area in the the next few months coming on fire. My new companion is not going to know how hard it is to work with the members, because we are going to work with them everyday. I am super excited and I know that you are as well.

 

Last P-Day was Elder Penfold and Elder Robison`s birthday. They are both leaving to the states on Thursday. It really is sad but it is also exciting. I am so greatful that I was able to meet them and really learn a lot from them. They said the cake that I made last week was the best they have eaten in over 2 years. haha. After District meeting our zone met up with another and we went to their area to play sports. We played soccer at this huge soccer feild. I am still not an expert at soccer but everytime I get better and better when we play.

 

To end the evening we went to a members house for a lesson and dinner. It was one of their birthdays and they invited over people who were not members of the church. We shared a short message about the gospel and how it helps us in our lives. When it came time to eat cake the birthday gril had her head shoved in the cake. It is a tradition in Guatemala to shove their face in the cake and she was covered in frosting.

 

The last few weeks have been really hard on my companion, because her dad has been sick and this last week he was even having convulsions. One day she was fine but then didn`t want to do anyhting. I am so glad we have the priesthood and Elders here in the mission who were able to give her a blessing of comfort. 

A Reactivated Family
I love their Excitement for the Gospel!

 

Something that I love in the mission is going into a house to teach one thing and having the spirit promt you to teach something else. This happened with these two girls in the branch this week. We were going to teach them about misisonary work but for some reason I changed the plan and started teaching about eternal families and shared about how my little sister died but I knew that my family would be together again. They started crying. I guess their dad died a few years ago and they have been really sad about it lately. It is so important to follow the spirit.

 

This week was a little hard when we went to teach our 15 year old investigator. He had all of these crazy questions and didn`t read the scriptures. It made me really sad. However we just focused on the doctrine and the next time we visited him, he was super happy. He even read more in the Book of Mormon than we asked him to, marked different scriptures and remembered to pray to God. I loved seeing the difference.  

 

I feel like for my mission I have really high expectations of what I can do here. A lot of times I am really hard on myself becaue I do not reach them. However, I am getting better at being the missionary I want to be and that Heavenly Father wants me to be as well. I am so glad that we can continue to progress in this life and be better and better. How great is the plan that Heavenly Father created for us. It is PERFECT!!!!!! 

 

Well I hope you all have a great week and I will as well. Whenever tmes get tough I know that I am not alone. I also eat a choco banana. They are so good!!!! Thank

you for your love and support.

 

Hna. Gurule

Happy Day!!

Hello!!!! I am really happy today. It is always nice to write and reflect on how my week went. I do this everyday as well in my journal but this way I can look at everything for the week. 

 

Last Monday I had to wake up at 4am to go to the mission office. I did not know why but we went to immigration and I took a picture for my VISA. I am not sure if I have it or not but it was nice to go there because there were missionaries there from all over Guatemala. That means that I got to see some of my friends from the CCM. I love hearing about their missions and what they are doing. It is amazing how you can know people for such a short amount of time in the mission and know them so well.

 

The Ensign- Conference Edition

We seem to make tortillas a lot in the mission. I am getting better and better at it. They are actually round now and are not super thick. I love doing sevice for people and in doing so I, learn to do a lot of different things . We also went with members this week to do their visiting teaching. You learn a lot about members in doing that and it is not always things you want to know. I am greatful to be there to help them though. 

 

Every week we have a NDH with a family, they are super strong in the Ward and help us a lot. The problem is that they always have dinner for us and we only have time for the lesson so we get home a little late. Luckily it is before 9:30 and they have a car to drive us. That is basically the only time I dive in a car in the mission. 

 

This month is the month of the fair. They celebrate the whole month long and the streets are all blocked off. For this we even have chruch earlier at 8am. This Sunday we were taking a lady to church who didn`t have money for the bus. We got to her house at 7 to walk with her. Being in the mountains it was all up hill and we did not eat because it was Fast Sunday. I was fine though because at that time and the rest of the day I was not hungry and I had a lot of energy. It was a testimony that if we do the work of the Lord we will be blessed.  

 

This week a lot of our investigators have had a lot of different interesting questions. I love it! It is really fun to search the scriptures for answers to their questions. Once I find the answers it is really easy to teach them because we read from the scriptures and I bear my testimony about it. I love it!!!! The scriputres are so powerfull. 

 

This week I also made a cake. Today is the birthday of an elder in my district. For some reason the elders asked me to make the cake and they do not know if I can cook. Luckily I can but it was a little different not having all that we do in the states. I think it turned out well though. They wanted a USA cake with no fruit.  

 

Well I am loving working here. There is only one week until transfers so who knows if I will still be in San Juan or another place. I am excited for the progress this area is making and soon it will be the strongest in all of Guatemala. 

 

Remember to read the scriptures and pray. I love you all and thankyou for your support.

 

Hna. Gurule

When it Rains it Pours!!!!

 

Wow, I would just like to say that I love this time of year in Guatemala. If you are wondering why, read the title. It is the rainy season and according to the people in my area it will rain everyday until August. The thing about the rain here is that is comes out of no where and starts by a loud boom of thunder and then a downpour. I honestly love it. Especially all of the thunder and lightning. Sometimes it doesn`t rain super hard but that is only if it is raining all day.

 

Last P-Day, we went to Walmart for my companion to buy a camera. She broke hers in the CCM. Walmart was in the mall and it was super nice. I felt like I was in the States again but once we left I knew I was not. It is weird how different a place can be here. It is nice to feel at home every once and a while though. 

 

To end the P-day, we had a lesson with a new family we found on Sunday. They are super great and hopefully they will continue to progress and gain testimonies of this gospel. All eight of them are planning to get baptized sometime in June.  

 

Tuesday, we had a zone meeting, which was the last one with Elder Robison my zone leader. He and several others are leaving in two weeks to go home. It is crazy how fast time flies on the mission and I hope to use every minute of it.  

 

The last few weeks there have not been very many people progressing in my area, but this week we have found several new investigators that are truly willing to take the challenge of reading the Book of Mormon, and praying to know if it is true. What other Church asks people to pray to God to know whether or not it is the Lord`s true church on the earth. The answer is NONE. To me that is just another testimony builder that this church is true.  Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to know what to do in this life so we can go back and live in His presence for eternity with our families.  

 

We decided to knock doors this week which I actually really like, because more of the family is usually home and you know where they live. As we did, for the first time a lady answered the door said she was Catholic and slammed it. My companion felt really bad after that and I told her it was a good thing she didn`t get called to the states.  

 

In Cruz Blanca there are a lot of members. What is really sad is that most of them are less active. When we go there we always find out that another person is a member of the church.  That is an area that we really want to strengthen. There is at least about one member in each house but I can only imagine what the area would be like if they were all active. I can see them now all going to church together.  One new thing we have decided to do with the less actives is try to get them excited about missionary work so they feel like they have a purpose in the church. Only the family of the branch President have callings. As we have taught a few lessons focusing on their responsibility they have seemed a lot more animated and even given us references. Having a responisblity really does help people. 

 

Towards the end of the week we had interviews with President and Sister Stay. For the interview we had to memorize our purpose and D&C4 in Spanish. For some reason it was hard for me but I finally memorized it all the morning of the interview. I guess I do better under pressure.  

 

As we returned to our area, we had an appointment with our 15 year old investigator.  As we were teaching him these two guys walked up to buy paper. After they did they started talking to us. We told them we were missionaries and invited them to chruch. We decided that we would go to their church and then they could go to ours. Then they said after we could have a `Cita`. I was thinking it would be great to have a lesson so I said yes. Then I remembered that cita is also date. Nope don`t want to do that. I have been asked to marry people a lot on my misison but this was the fist time I have been asked on a date. When we explained we could not date on our missions they said that was fine and would wait 1.5 years.  People are so funny.

 



Making Tamalitos before a Service Project

 

 

 

I mentioned in the beginning that there has been lot of rain . One night we were walking home and it started pouring. The street was like a river and came to my midcalf. We were just laughing and walked home. I am excited for more rain this week and to help others come to know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your love and support and I will write you next week.

Say What?

Wow, I feel like this week was so much better than the last one. We worked really hard everyday and we  have a lot of new investigators which makes me really happy. Why does it make me happy to have new investigators? Because I love sharing my testimony about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today and when people gain this knowledge their lives are so much better. I know, I have experienced the change. =)

 

After P-Day was over on Monday we had a NDH with an elderly couple. We taught about eternal families because they are not sesaled in the Temple. As we started teaching, they told us they had talked to the Bishop and have a date to be sealed in June. I am so happy for them. The wife is a convert and has been a member for almost 4 years. They are always together and a huge example to other couples in the ward. It just makes me so happy to see people progress in this life and prepare themselves to make more covenants with our Heavenly Father.

 

Tuesday, we had a lesson with our investigator that wants to get baptized but can`t because of her husband. She told us that her nephew is interested in the chruch and told us where he worked. We went there and started talking to him. He mentioned that he wanted to learn more and one day serve a mission. He is 15 years old and works everyday but Saturday and Sunday so he can pay for his education. He really does have the desire to learn but he is afraid to tell his parents about him investigating the church. I can relate to that.

 

We also met with our family that said they didn`t want to learn more. They really are a great family and I know that they are prepared for the gospel. Right now we go and visit them because we want to find out thier needs so we can help them. We asked if we could come back and they said that so we don`t come too often we can come once a week. I am okay with that. :)

 

That night we had a NDH with the branch President and his family. Where they live reminds me a bit of Worthen Circle because their family lives next to each other and all of their houses are kind of connected by a center area. President Iquiq talked about how impressed he is with my Spanish. It is weird because everyone has been commenting on my language.  /when I am in church and respond to a question, I have heard people comment that my language has improved. I think people are just used to my first week here when I really didn`t talk but now I feel more comfortable speaking Spanish and I really have learned a ton.

 

Wednesday we had a huge surprise. We went to visit our only progressing investigator at the time. On the way there we contacted this lady and her daughter. She was there visiting her mom. She said she was a member though and her mother as well. When she told us the name of her mom we did not recoginze it and thought that another less active member lived in Cruz Blanca. She told us where she lived and it was the same house as our investigator. When we had the lesson with her, we told her about running into her daughter and that she said she was a member. She confirmed that she was. ¿What? We were so confused but checked the church records and it is true. I am really happy that she is starting to come back to chruch though, It will bless her a lot in her life.

 

That night we went outside and a lot of  little kids were there. We asked them if they wanted to sing. We taught them primary songs and even a few in english. Then we played some games. Their favorites were Ring aroung the Rosie and also ^Perro Perro Coyote^( Duck duck goose but with different animals in Spanish) It really was a ton of fun. When they had to leave we gave each of them a Bon Bon (lolliepop). They kept asking when we could come back again, so one day we will have to. Most of the kids were children of some of our investigators  which is helping them to gain testimonies as well.

 

There is so much that happened this week. I am not sure I can write it all, but one of my favorite experiences was with this man in San Raymundo. He has a Ceveche resturant. The last time we talked to him we promised to bring a Book of Mormon to him. On Friday we did and he was so happy to have it. I shared my experience with the Book of Mormon with him reading my favoirte scripture in 2 Nephi 31:20. He kept his finger in the book after so that he could read  it later. It was so great and he told us that he has a smaller book than this that he hasn`t read but he really is going to read this book. 

 

Being a missionary really is a great opportunity. I love going to peoples homes and inviting them to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. I invite all who read this to do the same as well. Talk to people you know who are members, talk to the missionaries, go to chruch. You will find greater joy in this life than you can imagine. Have a great week!!!! Thank you for all of your love and support. 

 

Hna. Cailey Gurule 

Mixco Viejo

(5/6/13 - 5/13/13)

 

Hello agian!!! It is Monday and that means that once again it is P-Day. This last week has been pretty interesting. I feel like it has been a lot differnent than a lot of the weeks in my mission. I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. We worked like usual but there was also a lot of time spent on other things. 

 

Last Monday with my zone we all played soccer. Soccer is not my best sport but I did get a lot better the more we played. I liked playing and running around with my zone. They are really great. Later in the day on Monday we visited with a family in the ward for FHE. They are really great and we taught about the family and especially about how important Mothers are. Everyone there shared their testimony about their mom. We talked about moms a lot this week since it was the week of Mother`s Day.

 

Tuesday I had my very first divisions with another missionary. She is in the new sister missionary leadership position. It was strange to be away from my companion for so long but I feel like I did learn a lot from her. She teaches everything so simply and asks a lot of questions. Maybe I just liked it so much because she teaches more how I like to.  She is a convert to the church as well and at first only her sibblings joined. Then after 10 years her dad joined the church as well because he said that they were such an good example to him. I think that is so cool.

 

Wednesday we switched back to having our regular companions and I started feeling really sick. I am not sure why because I ate yogurt in the morning and a banana but that day I was sick. We decided it would be best if we just stayed home. I was very greatful for this becuase I do not think I could have gone anywhere. lol  

 

Thursday I still felt a little bad but I felt good enough that I could work and that is what was important to me. We taught member families that day and then did service for one of our investigators. He is always working but he said that some day soon he wants to have us over for dinner so that we can teach his family. That is really great. He believes a lot of what we do and really wants to know more.

 

Friday was Mother's day here in Guatemala. Because of that my companion used this day to call her family. I am not sure what the problem was but she could not get a hold of them and so we decided to call later in the day. When we did they still had problems but at least she did get to talk. That took about 5 hours of the day to figure out though and that made me a little sad because I like to be working. 

 

Saturday, we left early to make tamales with a member for service. All of the tamales in differnent countries are different. As we were making them though her grandchildren ran inside and told us there was a monkey in the tree. We went to see and realized that it was not a monkey but a little boy. It was really funny.  After we practiced with the Elders in San Juan because we had a show for Mothers at the church that day and the missionaries had to do an act as well. We got to the church at 1:50 because it started at 2. Let's just say that people here are not on time and the show started at 3:30. People were there and I played some tennis with a member who wanted to practice. As we were playing it started raining. I just really love the rain!!! By the time the activity was over, it was time for dinner and then we needed to complete our studies for the day.

 

Sunday we had Church. It was really great. I was all ready to talk to my family, when a member told me she was actually going to visit her family and I would not be able to use her computer. I scrambled asking poeple if I could use theirs but eventually it all worked out and I was able to talk to them. It was nice to see them and talk to them for a little bit. I love that we have families here on the earth and that we can be with them for eternity. They help us so much and there is a special type of love in the family that does not exist anywhere else. 

 

Today is Monday, and with my zone I went to Mixco Viejo which is a place with Ruins.  Usually we write email first but it was a little far so we went there fist and then came back to email. It was a lot of fun but it was also really hot. I am so glad I live in an area that is cool. It can be hot every now and then, but it always cools off in the night. 

 

I am excited for the week ahead and the opportunity to work really hard and teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is his work. Thank you everyone for you love and support. I will write again next week. ¡Adios!

Choose Eternal Life

(4/29/13 - 5/5/13)

 

Hello again!!! There have been many changes in the last week. As you know my trainer left and is in a new area. since my companion is waiting on her visa I thought we would be getting another companion but it is just the two of us. Hna. Rodriguez has about 2 more weeks in the mission than I do so we are both training each other. That is what Hermana Stay said anyway.  I  really like it because we have changed a lot about how we do the work and we have  a lot of ideas.  

 

Later in the day after changes we were contacting people like crazy and I was actually talking as well. Many times in the street I would just let me companions contact but now I feel more comfortable speaking as well- so I am doing that more.  Our meetings with Contacts are much better and we are testifying about things we knew and did not just invite them to church. We have a goal of how many people we contact a day and we actaully exceeded it in all of the areas. We were happy about this!  We contacted poeple in a pickup and then left. We were walking to go to dinner and she ran to catch up to us and tell us she wanted to go to church and meet with us. That was the first time it had happened to me. She lives in the area of the Elders but I am so happy she wants to learn about the gospel. 

 

Then as we walked past these security guards we walk past everyday, one stopped me and told me he had a favor. He wanted a hymn book. I asked him why and he told me that when he was a kid he was a member but when he was about 9 his family stopped going to church. He wants us to come and teach his family.  Wow that was really a crazy day and a great start to the companionship with just Hna. Rodriguez and I.

 

Wednesday we had a zone meeting and went to the stake center in the morning.  Once there we set goals on what we could improve. The Zone leader wrote ATAQUE on the board. It is some work to improve or something but my companion and I made up something we could do for each letter. Animadas, Trabajar duro, Audaces, Querer a  nuestros investigadores, Unidos and Estudio.  I am so excited for us to actually do these things. Sorry if you don´t understand Spanish. Please look this up -most Smart phones will have a Spanish - English Translation or you can google the words- this is my teaching for all of

you this week.  Everything is in Spanish here.

 



Beautiful Sky here this week.

This week I also had some really great personal studies. The name of this email is Choose Eternal Life and that is something I studied this week. I was reading in 2 Nephi 2:28  towards the end it says to choose eternal life. It is a choice like everything else. We have our agency to live in such a way and be obedient to the commandments that we can choose not to have eternal life. It is not a question if we will recieve it or not because we choose it. Because of this to all of the members and less actives in the area we taught about enduring to the end and choosing eternal life. I just love it.

 

By the way if you are wondering, my shower is fixed and the water is nice and warm. haha

 

This week we also had a miracle of an investigator who attended church. She has so much faith and is an example to me. We have talked to her a few times before but she is always going to the capital because her mom is in the hospital there. She saw us in the street one day this week though and told us she wanted to come to chruch. We said okay and that we would come to get her on Sunday morning. When we arrived on Sunday she was leaving her house, not becuase she didn´t want to go but she needed to get money for the bus. To church and back is 3Q about 43cents. The people here are really poor. She got the money and then left with us. As we were trying to catch a bus there were none and those that passed by were so full that not one other person could fit. No Tuk Tuks passed by either and those that did were totally full. I prayed that we could somehow get there before the sacrament hymn. I knew we would be late but I wanted her to be there for all of sacrament. After I prayed she said, well lets walk. She has so much faith, I feel like other people would just be like, oh well. We walked maybe two steps when a Tuk Tuk came around the corner. I think we just needed to excercise our faith in going to church. We got in and knowing she only had 3Q we paid for her because a Tuk Tuk is 3Q one way. We arrived just before the sacrament hymn. =) In church she was so focused and in Sunday school when people were rambling on she looked down and read the scriptures in her lap. She has been prepared and has a lot of faith. We just need to find a way to teach her. The problem is not just that she goes to the capital everyday but that she walks there which takes forever because she doesn´t have money for the bus. Somehow I know we will find a way to teach her though. 

 

Another great thing about Sunday is that I was able to bear my testimony in church. I love bearing my testimony and I always feel so good doing it. Yes I do it everyday in lessons and things but I don't know, in church it is so very different. It feels me with Joy.

 

Well those are the main things that happened last week. This week is going to be crazy but  great, I can´t wait. I love this work and I am also excited to talk to my family on Sunday on Mother's Day. Thank you all for your love and support. Have a great week!!!

 

Hermana Gurule