Letter to Dad and Mom September 16, 2014

September 16, 2014
 

Hi daddy!

I love you!

This week has been a long one, but not in a bad way. We went to Antigua for our P.Day (and it was fantastic - I had bacon in the first time in a while). We also had a reunion with Elder Ochoa from the Seventy and it was also fantastic. I felt spiritually recharged after that. We're working hard. 

We made chili and cornbread yesterday during our P-Day with a family in our ward. It was a Guatemalan version of chili, but it was really good. And we made the cornbread in a pressure cooker (who knew?) and it was also delicious.

We had a big goal month (in March of this year) of 400 baptisms. It is between 150 and 250 as an average for each month. more or less.

And I don´t know where I´ll be for conference. We have transfers on the 1 of October, but I don´t know if I´m leaving this area or no. I don´t know where I´ll be, but for sure I´ll be in a church somewhere, watching it in English or Spanish, and that I´ll love it, like always.

This week, I´ve been really grateful for the guidance of the Spirit. I´ve learned a lot of how the Spirit works with me in the field and in life. From knowing what to say with investigators and with companions, to receiving guidance on where to go in the area to find people. It has been a learning process, but I know that as we are obedient and are doing what the Lord wants us to do, we will receive this help and we will have the guidance of the Holy Ghost with us. Like, the other day, we found a part of our area that didn´t know existed. And we decided to knock doors to find people to teach. We found a family of 10, another sister that wants to get married to her "spouse", and another hermana who´s mother just passed away and we left a pamphlet  with her and she read it and told us that she "found comfort" in it. I love this work. We are being led to the sheep of our Heavenly Father. I know it. If we´re rejected by someone, it just means that we´re a step closer to finding the people that are waiting for us and are willing to listen and repent.

I love you, dad! I hope the nationals [Michelle's dad's dwarf car race finals] go well for you! 

I pray for you and mom and our family everyday and love you all so much!

con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Conover

September 16, 2014

Hi momma!

I love you!!!

I´ll tell you when I get it, [her Birthday package] for sure. And thank you for sending it! I´ll share, don´t worry. :)

Well, I can´t control the rain. Sorry. But yes, we´re getting some good rain storms here. Almost everyday, but that´s Guatemala in September for you. [mom asked her if she could share the rain with us in California.]

That sounds like a really fun activity. And with your friend, Sister Jensen. And with Jen.[Mom, Michelle's sister, Jen, and Sister Jensen presented a music night for the young men and young women.  Mom covered the spiritual importance of music in our meetings and the blessings of using the hymns in our lives; Sister Jensen taught the music symbols in our hymnal and how to conduct hymns; and Jen finished with vocal production--4 ways to improve your singing.]. How fun! It´s good to teach the youth about music because if you go to another country, you´ll be asked to help a lot if you know anything about music or if you can play the piano (something that I wished I had learned how to do...).

And I love the new curriculum for the youth. {Mom told Michelle how she substitute taught a Sunday School class on Sunday.]  We sat in on one of the lessons because our investigator didn´t feel completely ready to be by herself in the class and I love it.  I love how it´s focused on helping the youth feel the Spirit, because learning that NOW will help in the FUTURE. Especially on missions. To feel what the real needs are of the investigators. To receive warnings. To help know what you have to say to someone. It´s so good to know how to listen and feel the Spirit. And helping them recognize it young is even better because Satan will do a lot of things to dissuade the youth from going on missions. A lot of lies. And we need the Spirit to know the truth of all things (2 Nephi 32:5).

 

When we´re obedient with exactness and are working hard in the Lord´s work (whether it´s Temple work or missionary work, what have you), we can see blessings, miracles, and protection. I love the mission and am so grateful for the miracles that I have been able to see in the lives of so many people. I am so grateful for the Spirit and the help and guidance that we can have when it is with us. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to learn more to listen to the Spirit and to help other people recognize the feelings and whisperings of the Spirit. Sometimes, we have to be like Nephi (1 Nephi 4:6) or we are going to have a revelation all at once or something like the father of Lamoni (like in Alma 19:6) where the darkness was cast away by the light of the Gospel. But I know that as we learn more to listen, we will be blessed. We also have to be obedient, but we can do it. I know it
And we also had a conference with Elder Ochoa on Friday - it was really good. We learned about how we can hasten the work more in our mission and it was a really spiritually uplifting experience.
Oh - we went to Antigua last week and it was SO FUN. We went for our P-Day of the Zone. It was a good experience. We went to a restaurant named "El Mono Loco" (The Crazy Monkey) and it was delicious. It´s the only place in the mission where we can eat lettuce, bacon, etc. (all the things that we can´t regularly eat) and it was really good. And beautiful, of course. The camera is in the house - sorry. I´ll send pictures soon.

I love you, mom. I am so grateful for everything that you do for your daughter that´s all the way out here in Guatemala. Thanks for the packages, the prayers, and the letters and love. I love you, so much!

con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Conover