February 4, 2014

HI daddy!

I love you!

That´s good that it´s finally raining in California. I hope that it helps, as well. And I´m also glad that you got to go back to the Temple to work. That is such a blessing to be able to do that.

And thank you for the letter to Mr. Smidebush. And that mom took the book to him. I think that it will help him a lot.

I love hearing about your missionary experiences at home. You and mom. I don´t know why I didn´t speak more seriously about the Gospel with my friends. yes, I talked about the Gospel, but not on a "it can change your life" level or how it could help them in their lives. I´m going to change that when I get back (and of course I´m doing that now).

We had a baptism this week, Yajayra de Jiatz. She is going to be an amazing member of the church. She knows a lot about the Gospel and she is going to do great things in the work of the Lord.

This week I´ve been impressed by Zeezrom in the Book of Mormon. He was someone that was attacking Alma and Amulek verbally and wanted to destroy the Church, but he realized the error of his ways and started to repent. He was sick and asked Alma and Amulek for a blessing and he was healed by his faith. And then, he preached the Gospel to others as a missionary. He was truly converted. 

 

When we´re truly converted and understand the Atonement, we want to share this message more because we know it can help people in this life to change and become better and become clean from our sins so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I love that. Sometimes we think that when we repent, it´s because we broke a commandment. But repentance is a commandment. It´s a change of heart that helps us become more like Christ everyday if we daily repent. I love the Atonement and know that it has power in the lives of those who believe in Christ and truly understand (at one level or another) that He is our Savior and Redeemer.

We found a former investigator this week. I had never looked at her teaching record, but we did after we taught her. She almost got baptized in June. She has a testimony and I think we´re going to be able to help her be baptized. Her spouse may be a bit of a challenge, but we´re going to work with her. It was a miracle that we found her and that she let us in the house, so she´s going to be baptized. It´s just a matter of when.

I love you so much. I am so grateful that you joined the church and met mom and have stayed faithful in the Church (and I couldn´t remember the word faithful. I had to ask one of our zone leaders what "fiel" was in English). Could you send me your conversion story? I know the gist of it, but I don´t remember all the details.

But yes, I am very grateful that our family is faithful in the church.

I love you SO MUCH. I hope everything is well at home.

Con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Conover



February 4, 2014

Hi momma!

Yeah, I met the owner-founder of Stephen´s hot chocolates. I love the mint one.

Wow, I wish I could be there at that activity, but not for the chocolate (even though that would be worth it). It sounds like an excellent activity. really. I also wish I could be there to help, but I´ll make up for it in about a year, so no worries. (and I cannot believe it´s been six months - it feels like one. I still feel like a newbie in the mission)

We still do have hot water and we got a deposit about three weeks ago, so we have water all day. We have a shower stall. And I do drink bottled water. Not even the people here drink tap water.

We microwaved the S´mores. It was something we did in college and it works here, too. And thank you - Hermana Peterson and I were very grateful for this tender mercy from the States.

I feel your prayers and those of our family and I´m very grateful that you all are helping me and supporting me in this work. We had a baptism this week and she is going to be a fantastic member. She wants to be a teacher in relief society - that was one of the first questions she asked the first time that she came to church.

Thank you for taking the book to Mr. Smidebush. And I got a copy of dad´s letter, too. I think that will help him. And yes, I did get a email from him this week. And thank you for talking to him, as well.

Missionary work is being emphasized everywhere, I think. Here in Guatemala it´s being emphasized (and not just a missionaries). The members are being asked to work more with the missionaries and give references and have family home evenings with inverstigators and everything. This is definitely the Lord´s work and He is hastening this work.

This week in the Book of Mormon we´re reading in the first chapters of Alma. I love Zeezrom. He might be one of my favorite people in the Book of Mormon because he was attacking the church and Amulek called him "hijo del infierno" and he was a terrible person. But then he realized that he was doing bad things. He repented and when he was sick over his works, he asked Alma and Amulek for a blessing and, through his faith, he was healed. And as is says in Alma 17:12, he went out to teach the people about the Gospel. We might have done bad things in this life or made mistakes (everyone has) but the wonderful things about the Atonement is that we can repent and become better. We´re to keep the commandments and sometimes we think that when we sin, we repent because we broke commandments, but repentance is also a commandment. It´s a change of heart that our Heavenly Father has commanded us to do. I love that. I love how we can change everyday and become more like Christ everyday. Some days will be better than others, but we can find strength and solace in the Atonement. It´s so central to EVERYTHING that we teach and live that we need to understand it, at least on a simple level.

I love you, mom! I hope that your chocolate self-reliance activity goes well and that the sisters don´t get diabetes from all the chocolate.

I love you and pray for you, dad, and the familia!

Con MUCHO amor,

Hermana "Rooch-a-pooch" Conover