Letters from Guatemala

'Your weaknesses are needed here.' It's astonishing to me to think about the fact that the Lord knows our strengths and our weaknesses and how each one of those can benefit the lives of others. My companion told me the above statement on one day that I was seriously doubting my abilities to do this work. Nobody's perfect and I can't expect to be a perfect missionary with the perfect ability to teach and talk to people...not with only three months of practice. Progress and doing the best you can with the tools you have is really all you can do.

Update on the area: Our member that 'fell' last week has once again been restored to his animated, motivated and gospel loving self. What a dramatic difference this week was! He helped us-with a lot of enthusiasm- in lessons and helping to find people who were baptized almost 30 years ago who are not currently attending church and their whereabouts are unknown. I practically burst with pride when, during one lesson, he was a complete missionary! He pulled out a scripture and explained it to the investigator, expounding how it applied to her question. What an amazing turn around! And he has such a wonderful testimony of how the gospel can change lives! He almost cried when he told us that only we (the missionaries) were able to give him what he really needed to pull him from his state of despair and drinking.

Lesbia had her baby! Lesbia is the sister-in law of one of our less active members and we have been teaching her lessons. She was a week late in having her baby boy (the third). He was a really tall baby! There's a picture of me holding him, but I probably look really apprehensive, as I usually am when holding someone else's precious gem.

I'm in charge of the niños for a choir. I LOVE it! I'm a little nervous to admit that, because who knows what I might end up being called to do in the future. But, I really enjoy it. I was surprised, because I could actually communicate with them and they mostly paid attention to me. We're singing 'Me encanta ver el templo' and ' El Sabio y el imprudente'. They mostly shout the lyrics at this time because I was encouraging them to sing louder, but I think that's fine for now. Children choirs hardly ever sound like a chorus of angels and especially in Guatemala. I try to keep it fun and entertaining for them while helping them learn, and I'm trying to incorporate a little message and-or testimony each time I work with them.

Finally, we had a day that we set aside the morning for service work. We were able to wear jeans all morning and cleaned dishes for Lesbia and Mayra. We also helped the mother of Yeimy (Martina?) clean the backyard of her house. Cleaning the backyard consists primarily of sweeping all the garbage, leaves and dirt into a large pile to set it on fire. Seems very odd to me, but, when in Guatemala, do as the Guatemalans do. We also helped her hang clothes up to dry, or placing them out on the tin roof to dry in the sun.

I just want to say that I love Sundays. I feel so energized after church and there's always such a special spirit there. Wonderful.

I believe that's all for now, I know Brenna requested lots of information on the people, the place and all that, but I may have to respond another time. I am out of time. I will answer one question though. There are two little stores, basically just a house that people vend out of, no gas station, nothing else except a large field for soccer (every weekend) and several little churches.

I love you all and hope you're all doing well! Dios les bendiga!

Love, Hermana Schultz

Our District all ate lunch together! It was a lot of fun!

Service project, cleaning up a the backyard of a house. Consists mainly of sweeping all the garbage and leaves into a pile to burn. We got to wear pants! Strange feeling...