Rest and Miracles

POSITIVE outlook is such an amazing thing!! I don't quite remember what happened, but this week has been so wonderful for my spirits. I have been working on actually talking to the people with my limited knowledge and I think it really pays off! It`s obvious that they appreciate my efforts...even though half the time they cannot understand my Spanish....``I`m certain that was a perfectaly understandable question!`' Oh well. En tiempo.

We didn't do a whole lot of lessons this past week. We had interviews with the presidente this week, which ran longer than expected. Then, Hermana Sanchez got sick. She slept all day Friday and Saturday we were instructed to go into town to get her blood checked for Danghae. Several people in the area had gotten in, including one of the Elders in our District. He is better now and back to work now. Also, happy to announce my companion does NOT have Danghae. However, it has reconfirmed to me that I DO NOT want to get sick here. We both had a lot of apprehension in entering the clinic because it was...well, not a place I want to return to for my own needs. Yikes! Thankfully we didn`t have to take off our shoes like Michelle had to do in Thailand!
 

Major miracles happening. At least, major for this area. A less active woman, whom the Hermanas have been working with for a long time finally came to church! Then, Eddy, our investigator who wants to get baptized came to church all on his own! We have also been able to start talking more in depth with this one family about the gospel. The husband of the family is brothers with Agustin, a recent convert who had been a drunkard. He`s started to listen to us after seeing the dramatic change in his brother. Same thing with his wife. Last night we spent two hours at their house, sharing the gospel as well as just talking. Disclaimer here for my fellow missionaries reading this- the work is MUCH different here. You have to get to know the people and build that relationship of trust. Why would they listen to people they do not trust? It is so important to build that relationship. So, even though it was late, we did not tell them abruptly that we needed to go. We were so happy to be able to talk with them!

  Here are some pictures.

Location Location Location

A couple of our house in Leguna Seca.

The contents of our fridge. Yum! Mangos and oreos!
Can't go wrong.

 Preparing to exit the house.

Oh yeah! Mud! A runner's playground. This is the street outside our house.

A couple of the Guatemala Temple, one of my companion and I standing on temple grounds-

the phrase `Stand ye in Holy Places` comes to mind.

 

 

 Oh, and one more note- today marks 2 months on my mission! The most jam packed 2 months of my life. Feels like forever, but also like a blink of an eye! Learned so much and continue to learn.

My Email for those who don't know it already and would like to send one is:
erika.schultz@myldsmail.net 

 

Alright, update.

First off, I'm learning a lot about myself and how I need to change. It's easy to focus on myself when I can`t really talk to anyone and I am trying so hard to be obedient and learn and all that. But, there's a catch! It makes me selfish! Good heavens, I had no idea! It was something of a crushing blow to realize that about myself! But, that's a new goal to work on. `Love thy neighbor`. Love is powerful and if I think of others first instead of `Me me me`, it will be much much better.

Besides that, it has been a much better week. I know it`s tough and sometimes I dream about the time when I can return to carpets and warm showers, clean streets...but that`s not important. I have my whole life to live like that. It`s a priviledge. Now is my time to give, completely to the Lord and his people. It is worth it.

I`m able to share more. My companera is very good about giving me opportunities to talk in lessons and I am trying to open up more with small talk. A work in progress, both in English and Spanish.

Funny story of the week: My companera and I were in this woman`s house, sharing a message. There were a couple of baby chicks running around near our feet and they suddenly just hopped onto her leg. She didn`t bother to shoo them off but left them there as we shared the message. I was dying! I tried so hard to keep my focus and not to laugh, but everytime I looked at the chicks I had to stifle down the laughter.

The people:

Yeimi was baptized this Wednesday. It was so wonderful. I love baptisms for the strong tender feelings of the Spirit. It fills the room. And, for me, it reminds me so much of my own baptism. I am grateful every day for how it has changed my life. I would not be here among these great people without it. Eddy, our investigator with a baptism date no longer has a date. He desperately wants to be baptized but he has a problem with drinking. A prerequisite to baptism is no more consumption of alcohol. We found him obviously drunk the other day. We want so badly to help, but we could not teach him at that point because he would not have been receptive to anything we said. We have an idea to help him though. Another recent convert had been a bolo (drunk) and the gospel has drastically changed his life, so we want him to share his testimony with Eddy. Also, we shared a lesson with this one family where the wife is a less active member. It was a very powerful message and I know that at least the wife felt the Spirit. Their son Donny is potentially interested in learning more, but the father is not incredibly interested. We`ll see what happens. We have another family, Irma Geronimo, that I like very much. She seems interested, but hasn`t gotten permission from her husband to go to church. Poco a poco.

I like it here. My companion and I are getting eaten alive by something at nights and we`re not sure what else to do. We`ll figure something out though. I have to get going, but I just want to say it was great getting to talk to mi familia yesterday! Thanks guys for your support! I love you all for infinity and beyond.

Hermana E. Schultz

 

Great news!!

  There has been a change here at the CCM that allows us
to write for an hour instead of only half an hour, due to the huge
overload of missionaries here. Unfortunately, this new change has
come about during our last week here. But that´s fine. It is very nice
to have the time to type everything out at a much calmer pace. I have
lots to share.

It has been a great week. Busy, but great. I want to update on some
things I forgot to mention on my last message. First off, I have been
able to utilize some physical therapy skills here and help cure a
roommate´s neck pain. She had neck pain from hitting her head that
was making it very uncomfortable for her to sit up for an extended
period of time. I did a quick assessment and gave her a couple of
exercises to do throughout the rest of the day. Guess what?! It
worked! She was basically pain free by the next day. The Mckenzie
Method of Physical therapy is alive and well in the CCM! Also, I have
influenced my district to work on their posture. Because they always
see me sitting up straight and I´ve given them a few tips on posture
and minimizing backpain through good postrure, many of them are
working on sitting upright! It´s been fun to see them improve with it
and use some of the tricks I have from working at Mechanical Diagnosis
and Therapy.

 Now to the events of the past week.
First off, I will be leaving the CCM this next week. If you are
planning on sending any letters, please do not send them to the CCM at
this point. I will likely not get them until much later.
Last Wednesday was our Preparation Day. A day for us to ´relax´from the
norm and do something outside. This time, we went to the stake center
(The Church building for a large area) and played games. We ended up
playing a game where we all sit in a huge circle of chairs and one
person in the middle says something they have never done ("I have
never broken a bone" for example). If you, sitting in the circle, HAVE
done it, then you have to get up and find a new chair. If you can´t
find a chair, you are the next person to take the seat. It was a lot
of fun. We had a good portion of people playing the game. After a
little bit, my companion and I slipped into a room with a piano and I
was able to plink around on it. I love the piano and it was a
wonderful outlet for me. After this, we all went to Walmart. We went
in with a mission, a list of things to get. With only a short 30
minutes to raid and comb the store for the things we needed, my
companion and I had a battle plan for where to go first. Then
finally, we went to a very nice mall (heavily North American
influenced) and enjoyed some fast food from well known U.S. fast food
chains.

 My district is practicing a song to perform this
upcoming Sunday as our farewell to the CCM. We´re singing one of my
all time favorite songs- Come Thou Font. It´s beautiful! I am so
excited to sing it. There´s this teaching practice
venue that we call CRE. It is a little house that is set up with
several different rooms to help us imagine we´re actually going to
visit real people. We go in and teach people who are having a hard
time with going to church or keeping commandments, but have already
been baptized. They are fake and only playing a role, but it is still
a great practice. My companion and I had a wonderful experience with
one of these practices. When we walked in and the gentleman greeted
us, he started talking to us about....who knows what. We couldn´t
understand him! We were both certain we were in trouble. But, as
soon as we turned things to the gospel, it was so easy to speak and
understand him. (By far not perfect, however). But the Spirit was
there. This wonderful, peaceful feeling came over the room as we
resolved his issues and invited him to make the changes in his life
that he needed to do in order to find some answers out for himself.
We were both just stunned and grinning ear to ear when we left. That
definitely wasn´t us teaching the lesson. We were guided to know what
to say.

We watched a portion of a movie this last week, called Errand of
Angels. A friend of mine, Ryan, had told me several times that I
should watch it before I left. I wanted to, but never got around to it
or had access to the movie. It definitely makes you ponder how you
treat others and how a change in perspective can really affect the
whole outlook. on a person. So, this is my little shout out to Ryan
that I watched it!

Alright, so I've had some wonderful experiences and thoughts lately
that I just have to share. The first is that I realize perfection, in
a lesson, in life, in anything, does not exist. Things will NOT go
according to plan, but things (for me, a lesson in particular) can be
perfect if the Spirit is there. That is perfection. Not how well I
speak Spanish, not how well the thoughts of me and my companion
mesh....but how well we invite the Spirit into a lesson and our lives.
Second thought: A prayer of gratitude for the things you´re
grateful for is sometimes better than asking for the things you think you need.
I had an experience with this just the other day. I highly encourage
it.
Last thought: My companion brought a wonderful talk with her. It´s
called the Fourth Missionary. If anyone wants to get me a copy of
it...I would be VERY grateful. It´s phenomenal. It talks about
progressing and how we can only truly progress and grow in the Lord if
we give ourselves to the Lord. Not just obedience, but by WILLINGLY
doing the things he asks us. I have a lot I could say about it, but
for time´s sake I cannot write it out now. For those of you who would
like to hear about some of the awesomeness that is this talk, then
feel free to email me and let me know. (Especially my missionary
compadres.)
Things continue to count down to our departure from the CCM. In one
week, I will finally be among the people, doing what I came out here
to do- and share the joy with the people of Guatemala! Yes, it´s
intimidating. Yes, I´m a teensy bit worried about my lack of knowledge
with the language....but I have faith that it will be ok. Not easy.
But ok. I thought of you all a lot this last week when we had a
torrential downpour through the night. It reminded me of home. I
love you all and hope to hear from you all soon!

Sincerely,
Hermana Schultz

Note from Blog keeper: OOPS! a bit late on this one. So you will have 2 to read now. Sorry Folks!

 

 

 

 

This is an earlier time this week for emailing. And once again, completely unexpected timing. But, I will do my best to compile some highlights from the week.

The Latinos and a wave of Nortes are leaving again this week...Has it really been another two weeks? It is so crazy how fast time flies and I know it is just going to keep going faster.

This week, Was very fast, but there have been some great experiences. First off, I love my companion. She and I get along so well and I learn so much from her. She has a very relaxed disposition but is always ready to take on the next activity. Yesterday, she and I were asked to prepare a lesson for a few districts. We were caught off guard because we had been told we didn't need to prepare one, and we had other tasks that needed completing. In the back of my mind I had a rebuttle jump up, but she just calmly said, ´"We´d love to." It was a wonderful reminder to me to just step up to it and not complain. Someone had mentioned a saying I really like. "Don´t complain about it. Pray about it" It is only one of many of my new mantras. Another thought I´ve been atttempting to practice is the idea that everyone has their agency (ability to choose from right or wrong) and I need to employ mine more to not get frustrated when others aren´t doing what they are supposed to. This doesn´t mean I turn a completely blind eye to things, but simply that I can choose how I react to my surrooundings. It has been rather liberating. And I have not gotten nearly as uptight when things don´t run smoothly...because, lets face it- when does life every run smoothly?

Speaking of not running smoothly, one of my roommates discovered some news from home that really upset her. She was questioning whether it was better for her to be here or not. We did all that we could to comfort her. I have never been very great at verbally comforting someone...I feel awkward at it when there are lots of others doing the same thing-it just seems inconsequential. But I wanted so badly to do something for her. The thought popped into my mind to sing her a hymn. So, flipping to her favorite one, I sang ´Come, Come Ye Saints´ At first, I almost couldn´t do it. The song has a sweet spirit about it and the emotion from the morning made it difficult. But I said a little prayer as I sang, and my voice became more sure. It helped her a lot. And it was, truly, my way of being able to comfort her.

Also this week, there was a church activity where several local LDS churches brought their children to tour the CCM. They were the cutest little children ever! All of them wore badges that said ´Futuro Misionario´(Future missionary). We watched them from our window, but then someone told us to go down because they had something for us. They had decorated pens for us. A small, timid child was led up to me by his mother. He handed me an adorable pen with a missionary on the top. The missionary had brown hair like me and a little name badge and backpack (mochila), It´s adorable! Then, the best part, this one little girl gave a bunch of us Hermanas a kiss on the cheek. Heart. Officially. Melted.

Also, some fun stories. Some of our Elders live in the room directly below us. Last night they were talking really loud and because we both have our windows open, we could hear everything. Most of us went to bed-eventually- but one Hermana could not fall asleep. Finally, around midnight, she made a note, tied to thread and dangled it infront of their window. They immediately became excited and got the note. It read "Elders, please don´t share all your secrets with your window open. Have a good night!". Oh man! Then, they spent the next 30 minutes talking about all the stuff they had said and that the Hermana may have heard! I was asleep through all of this, but I heard the story from both sides, our roommate and some of the Elders in our District. Priceless.

Also, We watched a Devotional by Elder Bednar. He talked about effective ways to study and teach the scriptures. Funny thing is...I've actually learned a part of this before. One of my friends, Brandon, had taught us in a class at church that this was the best method. Or one of the best. It´s a Why (Doctrinal), What (Principle) and How (Application). It really is SO great. I don´t know why I stopped using it. But I'm applying it again.

I am continuing to learn Spanish...relatively quickly. Had lots of time to study on our own this Saturday which was very helpful. But I know I'm going to be so lost once I get into the field. Oh my....people talk FAST!

That´s all I have time for. Take care, family and friends! I love you very much. I will write again next Wednesday.

Oh and one more thing. I can email friends! My email: erika.schultz@myldsmail.net

Sincerely,

Hermana Schultz

Once again, I find myself not quite sure what to talk about. It has still been a wonderful experience and every day is filled with some new thing to learn. At the same time, they all blur together. This past week flew by incredibly fast, I can hardly believe it's time for me to write home again! I do wish I had the time to write to each and every one of you. Either in an email or in a letter. But it is SO difficult. My time is just too short.

We continue to teach fake ínvestigators´(people who are learning about the church). It's difficult because it's in Spanish, but it is getting easier. As our knowledge of the language grows, we get a lot better with learning. Hermana Raymond and I sign up every week for a language tutor at least twice every week. It is very beneficial for both of us. Also, the day before yesterday, we did an English fast. For a full day, we did our best to speak only in Spanish. There were a few instances when we broke out into English, but I still consider it a success. It's amazing how draining it is though! Talking and thinking in a language for an entire day. It almost felt weird the next day to be free to speak in English. That was after one day! I can't imagine what it's going to be like after 18 months! I probably won't know how to speak English. Not to mention, its going to be an exhausting first few months as I strive EVERY DAY, to speak completely spanish.

We have lots of brand new missionaries here at the CCM. And I mean lots! I can´t believe how many North Americans (Nortes) there are! By far, we now far outnumber the latinos. Makes me miss being able and somewhat forced to talk to the latinos every day.

I should mention letters. There is nothing a missionary loves more than receiving letters. Last week, when they came in the mail, it was literally like a running of the bulls when we realized our teacher had letters! We raced up the stairs after her to get to the classroom. Thank you to all that sent me something! It was so wonderful to receive the letters and they are considered very dear to me. To those whom I have sent letters to and have not yet received them...I do hope they arrive soon. I have no idea how long mail takes. Just rest assured that someday it will come. :)

One more quick thing before I have to head off. My district thinks I have the most beautiful voice when singing. One of the Elders made a comment after singing our opening hymn that was just so sweet. This is what he said, "I have a new teaching method for Hermana Schultz and Hermana Raymond. Hermana Schultz just sings them a hymn." Aww! What a nice guy! And what a sweet comment!

I apologize that this letter is so short! Once again, I have such a short amount of time, and they bumped our email time up abruptly, so I was not able to prepare bullet points of interest. Perhaps I'll try to keep a list throught the week this next time.

I love you all!

Dios se bendice a todos!

Stretched

4/02/13

Remeber that investigator I told everyone about last week?  Funny
story. That's our new teacher.  He was a fake investigoator the whole
time.  He was so nervous to tell us.  But, as shocking as it was, I think
we learned SO much from it!  We treated him like a real person and
taught him like one so well.  He was in tears as he described to us
the feelings he had while we were teaching him.  The spirit was so
strong.  And this feeling is such a literal sensation. It truly is
something that touches your heart. It can affect you when you already
know what it is, or when you have no idea.  It testifies of truth.
He's definitely my favorite teacher now though. He's hilarious and is
stretching us in ways I find uncomfortable.

 They're pushing meoutside my comfort zone.

For example, one night he told us we were going to teach a lesson
in fifteen minutes...in Spanish...to the latinos.  SAY WHAT?   It
actually went fairly well.   That day was actually a struggle for me
because I was stretched in many ways to practice my spanish and
talking to people. I was beginning to feel discouraged about it.
Really just feeling like I couldn't do it. It was too much, and why
did I get sent here. But there are specific people who are waiting
specifically for me. And you know what? Even if I can´t speak the
language perfectly, the holy spirit will fill in for me and help the
people know that it's true. How incredible a gift.

Today was out Preparation day. It's supposed to be a break from the
grind- kind of a free day.  It was not very relaxing, but definitely
eventful. We woke up early to say goodbye to our roommates who were
leaving the CCM for their missions. Some were up at 2:00 in the
morning! Another woke up at 5:30am. We didn´t get much sleep. Then,
we received the news that we were to change our rooms. Immediately!
We rushed down to our room to pack everything to move to our new
quarters. By the time that was all situated, we were supposed to be
hopping on a bus to go downtown Guatemala City for the market.   I
learned a few things while at the market. The culture is rich!  The
people are so friendly! And they all talk very fast. I am excited to
get out and get to know them more.  I'm working on my city-phobia
however. I am not a fan of cities and have little trust for them, so
we'll see where the Lord places me for my mission areas.  My companion
and I think that we will end up in some really terrible places to live
in our first areas because we just moved into the CCM rooms that are,
what we consider, luxurious.  We´re just getting dessert first.
Most days are very similar. We study scriptures, language, grammar and
practice teaching. Each day is always a little different though.  My
district (my class) is wonderful and I love each and every one of
them. The Elders (the young men) in the district are seriously
spiritual giants. One of them has been here two weeks and can
basically speak spanish already. He has a firm faith in the fact that
this is the gift of tongues or el don de lenguna. I have faith that
the Lord will help me too.
One final thing before I must go.  This last week we had a testimony
meeting during sacrament. I have never understood less of what was
said in a meeting....but I have never felt the Spirit stir my soul so
strongly in a testimony meeting like this one did. It was phenomenal.
 It was all in Spanish, but you could just FEEL it. I couldn{t ignore
the feelings and had to get up to bear my short testimony in Spanish.
Yo se que el libro de Mormon es verdadero!  Y yo se que la iglesia es
verdadera!
Besides this, I am doing GREAT! I really do love it here. I love
having the spirit with me so strongly Each. and Every. Day.  There is
no question that it is the greatest source of joy.  Also, my companion

and I are getting along wonderfully! Love her!.  

That's all for
now! Love you all!

Let me just start by saying that the CCM is FAR superior to the
Missionary training center in Provo. Short food lines, immediate
language immersion, and real investigators. The CCM is wonderful! We
are also fed alot of food. Too much at times.

The first day here was very long. We had a midnight flight from LAX
to Guatemala and then we hit the ground running. No rest for the
overwhelmed. Everyone kept assuring us everything would be better
after the first week. But...I haven't really had much of a problem
with it. Yes, its hard. Yes, we don't have enough time to study
everything we´re supposed to study. But I love learning so much!
Also, there is a wonderful spirit here that we get to feel every day!
I love the CCM!

As I mentioned earlier, at the CCM, we get to learn from native
spanish speakers. They call us the ´Nortes´and them the natives. My
rommate and I try to sit by native speakers at least one meal a day.
They are the most humble and generous and sweet people! I think we
could all learn a lot from them. I already have. For example,
because I can´t speak up in meetings to answer questions both asked
and answered in spanish, I'm forced to listen to the latinos offer
their spiritual insight. Although I can´t understand, it's uplifting
and inspiring to hear the testimonies they have of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Another thing I've learned from them is when they sing.
Their pitch is terrible. No one's hitting the same key. But that
doesn't matter. They ALL sing. And they sing loud! It's likely one of
the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

I'm learning a lot spiritually as well. We had a devotional yesterday
(a spiritual talk, essentially) yesterday by one of the area 70, Elder
Duncan. It was amazing! Afterwards, our class (we´re known as a
district) got together and talked about what impressed us the most.
It was so wonderful to feel their testimonies through the things they
learned and to share those insights to grow together. I love my
district. We're all uniquely different in our expressions of our faith
in Christ in the gospel, but that´s what makes it so beautiful to see
their strength and commitment to their beliefs. While on that
topic, I love my companion! She and I are with each other pretty much
24/7. She has such a wonderful faith in the gospel and can be rather
reserved at times. I think this is good.

We had an earthquake this last week. It happened during our sports
time (deportes) we all thought it was thunder. Later that night
someone came into our room to tell us that we would have an earthquake
drill due to the quake that happened earlier that day. What?! We
didn't feel anything but they were concerned about aftershocks. Still
haven't felt anything.

Other fun fact- My name tag is spelled wrong. They said they would fix
it from Hermana Shultz to it's proper spelling. My teacher came in
yesterday with some name tags...but they were also wrong. Apparently
they were trying to give me some additional responsibilities. It read
(Elder Schultz), So close. But I'm am not worried. I'll have it
before I head out into the mission field.

I almost forgot to mention why I titled this message the way I did.
Due to the new age change, My companion and I are some of the oldest
girls here. Most of the young woman are 19 or 20. She was trying to
tell some latinos that we were older and she said´"Estoy abuelos."
This means "we´re grandparents´. We all found it to be hilarious.
There's a lot of mistakes that go into learning a language.

Also, an ammendment on packages: Do NOT put stickers of Jesus Christ
or the Virgin Mary or anything on packages. Just label it with my name
" Hermana Erika Schultz" Thanks!

One last thing. We get to teach a real person about the gospel here.
in Provo, they have roleplays. But that{s not so here. It was so nerve
wracking but things are going well! He{s asked some really great
questions lately. Like why do we have to pray? and {I don{t think god
has time for me." I assure you that the Lord does have time for you.
No matter where or who you are. I promise, he WANTS to have you speak
to him.

That{s all I have time for right now. Just be assured that I am well
and loving every moment. Still have lots of work to do in learning
the language, but I'm optimistic. Sorry for the hectic letter, we only
get 30 minutes on the computer. I love you all!


Love, Hermana Schultz