March 3, 2014

          


      volcano!!!!

Hello family and friends!

It has been an interesting week. I think more than anything we've been recuperating from last week’s busyness. We're in search of new people to teach, as we seem to have baptized all of the others. ,) This has been a bit of a trial. One of the things that constantly strikes me, however, is how I know I could never do this alone. As a missionary we are given the promise to have the Holy Ghost be our companion and it is this Holy Ghost that will testify to people and help them change. Thank goodness for that! Without it, I would never be able to 'convince' people to change their lives completely to be baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Never. I still stand by the fact that I could NEVER be a salesman. But thankfully, unlike being a salesman, I really do know that this IS something that everyone needs. Still, I feel like I have a LOT to learn. At the same time, I know that I don't have to be able to give a 'sales pitch' over baptism by the proper authority...I just have to help people feel for themselves that it is true. That's such a comforting thought for an imperfect human being.

Other things that I have learned this week have been about charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ and helps us in all aspects of our lives. When we have charity, we are more patient, kind, caring, loving, charitable...etc... so many great attributes. One of the ways to gain charity is to learn to love yourself. If you see yourself as a child of God and feel His love, you can share that with others. Understanding the importance you have in the eyes of God is key to helping you love others. So beautiful! I learned this when studying for a class we were going to give Sunday. I have discovered with this...that I love teaching about the principles of the gospel. It makes me so happy to study the scriptures to share things with others.

Also this week, met our first Agnostic person here in Guatemala! Almost knocked me off my feet in surprise. Then we discovered he's from Spain...makes more sense now. Truth be told, I really loved talking with him. It was refreshing to talk to someone with a new point of view, and, in truth a point of view similar to the one I had had before baptism. I know the difference it can make in his life. I know that although he's happy and content with his life, that there is something missing. A small hole that nothing seems to fill. I know that it's the gospel that fills that void. I really hope we can help him see these things. That he can feel the joy that I have felt in the gospel. It was wonderful to be reminded of my conversion and the change it has meant for me. Hopefully, one day, it will mean as much to this person one day too.

The last update is that we were able to watch a volcano erupting yesterday. As we left Sunday morning to go round up people to go to church, we noticed a cloud puffing out of the mountaintop...at an odd right angle. Obviously, smoke was coming out of the mountain, then getting caught the current of a higher jet stream. Fascinated, we took pictures and watched closely to see the smoke growing. We continued on with our quest to rise the sleeping church goers and just before we entered the church we took another picture. The smoke was much bigger, but still...we couldn't really do anything about it. I must admit, more than anything, I was fascinated! I wanted to whip out text books on volcanoes and read exactly what was going on and everything. With that...I think I have come to realize that I would be the type of person to die from a meteor crashing into me. I would just be so fascinated (thinking about science) that I would just stare and watch. But, no worries, if there was any danger to us here, they would have already informed us. It stopped erupting (from what I could see) after church. (Blessings of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. ,)

That's about it for today. I have to get going! Les escribire la siguiente semana!

Con amor,

Hermana Schultz